Tennis "Petition" Tennis' previous album was wistful and slight – pleasant but not especially memorable. Their second record, Young and Old , is far more substantial, with deeper bass and louder, more present percussion serving as a steady foundation for better, more assertive songs. "Petition" is the best one, and the one that pushes Alaina Moore's voice furthest into blue eye soul. This sound works well for them – they've made a lot of their life of leisure (sailing, sailing, sailing), and these buttery harmonies are a much better expression of their "comfort pop" aesthetic. [...]
Mr. Dream "Fatherland" Mr. Dream's second release is a slight curve ball, retaining the elemental appeal of their debut Trash Hit , while pushing the band beyond its early 90s reference points. "Fatherland," the title track of the EP, is the most impressive in this respect, with its hefty bass lines giving structural support to guitar and percussion parts that shift, swing and pivot in often unexpected ways. It's incredibly physical and dynamic music, and that feeling is amped up by Nick Sylvester's production, which splits the difference between a dry, [...]
Wilco "Born Alone" I'm always a bit confused by the fear of "dying alone," at least in a literal sense. Being afraid of being lonely at the end of one's life – I get that anxiety, and share it. But in terms of actual death, isn't it ultimately something we can only really experience on our own? I think Jeff Tweedy is brushing up against this idea in this song, in which he concludes that he was "born to die alone," drawing a loop from the beginning to the end of life, both of which are [...]
of Montreal "Spiteful Intervention" There was a time – a mostly quite bad time – in my life when I related quite strongly to Kevin Barnes' music, but thankfully, I'm not there anymore. This puts me in a strange position in terms of my relationship with his music: While I maintain that he has made some of the best records of the past decade, it can emotionally scalding to hear some of my favorite songs in his catalog lately, and I come into the latest of Montreal album, Paralytic Stalks , with a bit of [...]
This month marks the 10th anniversary of Fluxblog. I will be doing a few things to celebrate the occasion over the course of the year, but the main thing is that I will be putting together survey mixes for each year the site has existed. The mixes will be released on the first weekday of each month this year, culminating in revised/expanded versions of the 2010 and 2011 mixes and this year's survey at the start of December. 2002 was an interesting year, with a lot of major stuff bubbling up as the identity of the decade [...]
The 2 Bears "Warm and Easy" "Warm and Easy" is almost overbearingly optimistic, with its two vocalists threatening to smother every bad vibe with grooves and mellow hooks. But it's really charming, mainly because these guys get that you can always get away with utopian hippie stuff if you don't seem as though you're taking it too seriously and you've got a solid tune. The chorus bits by Hot Chip's Joe Goddard are what make the song, especially in how he balances out the goofiness of the lyrics with just enough earnestness to make it clear [...]
Porcelain Raft "Put Me To Sleep" There's a moment just after the first chorus of this song when the sound of the track sort of wobbles, as if the entire track has been momentarily thrown off register. I really like this – there's a lot of good sonic details here, but I enjoy the way this deliberate interruption makes it so that the song's otherwise static rhythm isn't quite as lulling as it could be. After that point, you're just sorta waiting for other curveballs, with subverts the hazy, insomniac tone of the piece. Hearing a [...]
Lana Del Rey "Without You" The funny thing about Lana Del Rey's Born to Die is that after a while, it begins to sound like 15 rough drafts for a statement song in which she lays out all of her themes and tells you who she is. It's rare to come across an artist so eager to explain herself, but given the way the world has responded to her thus far, there probably isn't an artist alive who actually requires this much self-defense. But it gets very boring, and there are diminishing returns: I [...]
Perfume Genius "Hood" "Hood" is an expression of a deep, consuming fear that one's partner will leave them if they ever truly knew them. It's a bit painful to hear because Mike Hadreas' lyrics and performance are so raw and direct, but it's beautiful mainly because you can hear him resisting this anxiety, and struggling to have faith in the notion of unconditional love. Or, maybe, trying to come to terms with the possibility that his lover might not think there is anything wrong with him at all. Pre-order [...]
Wire "Clay" (Black Session Version) The original studio recording of "Clay" from last year's Red Barked Tree was fine, but a bit pinched and stiff, with production that seemed a bit dated – too late 90s, maybe? I can't exactly place it, but it's the sound of bad computers. This live recording from the band's Black Session LP is drastically superior. The tone of the song is just the same, but the performance benefits from a slightly more slack physicality. One could never describe Wire as a loose band, but [...]
Chairlift @ Bowery Ballroom 1/23/2012 Sidewalk Safari / Le Flying Saucer Hat / Take It Out On Me / Wrong Opinion / Ghost Tonight / Cool As A Fire / Planet Health / Met Before / Frigid Spring / Guilty As Charged / I Belong In Your Arms // Evident Utensil / Amanaemonesia I reviewed Chairlift's wonderful new album Something for Pitchfork. Here are some thoughts on this performance. Chairlift "I Belong In Your Arms" 1. Chairlift are clearly confident [...]
Imperial Teen "No Matter What You Say" Imperial Teen come and go, turning up every six years or so to deliver a new set of lovely indie pop tunes that don't quite fit in with anything else out at the time. Their identity is very consistent, but the character of each record is a bit different - in the case of Feel the Sound , their latest, they are mostly favoring keyboards over guitars. As a result, the sound is lighter and brighter, which serves some songs better than others. I like the way the [...]
Sleigh Bells "Comeback Kid" Sleigh Bells make such overwhelmingly physical music that the lyrics would seem to be besides the point of the overall sensation of texture, rhythm and melody, but it seems notable that so many of their songs are fixated on winning and losing. Notable, but not surprising: The music itself typically sounds like an expression of triumph. "Comeback Kid" is especially direct, with Alexis Krauss giving the listener a pep talk set to her most appealing melody yet. (It comes off as very Aaliyah to my ears.) Krauss' voice was more of a [...]
The Shins "Simple Song" James Mercer hasn't changed his approach to melody much over the years – he mostly focuses on long phrases that curl into very pleasing shapes – but his approach to accompaniment has become more bold and brawny recently, as if he finally realized that adding a bit of weight and punch to his rhythms would not immediately shatter the delicacy of his tunes. "Simple Song" isn't even particularly heavy, but the added force sells the conviction of the lyrics, which reflect on life-changing epiphanies. I'm especially fond of his parting lines, which [...]
Lee Ranaldo "Off the Wall" It's sorta funny that the two guitarists in Sonic Youth spent years pushing at the limits of stylized noise in rock music, but both ended up embracing folk pop when left to their own devices. "Off the Wall," the first track released from Lee Ranaldo's first-ever solo songwriter album - something I have been waiting for since 1995 or so! - is gorgeous, jangly and unambiguously pop, and has a more striking resemblance to the music of, say, the Gin Blossoms, than pretty much anything in the Sonic Youth canon. Well, [...]
Field Music "A New Town" The Brewis brothers of Field Music are masters of stoic, tightly composed formalist rock. Their melodic sensibility is clearly derived from Paul McCartney (and his various musical progeny), but they replace McCartney's loose ease with OCD rigidity. This could be a recipe for musical disaster, but they own it - it always sounds like a very honest expression of a particular sensibility. "A New Town," from their forthcoming album Plumb , breaks little ground for the band - well, unless you want to focus on the inclusion of odd bubble [...]
Sleeper Agent "Proper Taste" Sleeper Agent aren't exactly ground-breakers, but they're exceptionally good with dynamics, so their straightforward rockers have a charm and charge that's lacking in a shocking number of their peers. This is especially true with regards to the chemistry and interplay between co-vocalists Alex Kandel and Tony Smith, who key into different but complementary styles of being a rock badass. While Smith navigates the aesthetic ground between Jack White and Neil Hagerty, Kandel is more Joan Jett – a bit cool, aloof and biting, but outgoing and aggressive enough to avoid receding into [...]
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks "No One Is (As I Are Be)" It's not as if Stephen Malkmus has been spending his years writing a lot of songs that make perfect literal sense, but I find this one to be particularly slippery – I can key into the central emotion here but I can't quite tell you what that emotion is, and the lines resonate with me in a major way, but when I really think about them, I am hard pressed to tell you why. And this may be part of why I love it [...]
Hospitality "Eighth Avenue" "Eighth Avenue" starts off sounding like something that could've been on If You're Feeling Sinister or The Boy With the Arab Strap , but it veers slightly off that course into something a bit noisier. Not hard or heavy, but loud and abstract – there's a burst of guitar midway through this that makes me think of the amber cast of light on city streets in the middle of the night. That dovetails nicely with the lyrics, which are nostalgic for a night life that the singer seems to have [...]
Mr. Muthafuckin eXquire and Danny Brown "Killah Tofu" Danny Brown and Mr. Muthafuckin eXquire have a chemistry on record that reminds me a lot of Ghostface Killah and Raekwon: A flamboyant, high-pitched guy serving as a foil to a gruff, growly dude with a more subtle rhyme style. As with the Ghost/Rae combo, it's easy to get caught up in the more cartoonish guy's raw charisma, but I'm very partial to eXquire and his talent for projecting hostile apathy. "Killah Tofu" showcases both men, and leaves no room for anything else - it's just two verses [...]
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