Blog: Fear of Arthropods

This is the most I've had to say about anything music-related in a long while. My crisis of rock critic faith may still be ongoing, but on this topic at least, I certainly know what I think. Many thanks to Stomp and Stammer , as always, for letting me say whatever the hell I want to. (This album is good but absolutely doesn't deserve a 9.5, Pitchfork . Sigh. Chill out, already.) Bon Iver Bon Iver [...]

For Stomp and Stammer : Royal Bangs Flux Outside [Glassnote] Though perhaps no other moment on the record can equal the frenetic, harried energy of the leadoff track, Flux Outside , the third LP from Knoxville's Royal Bangs, barrels relentlessly straight through to its finish. "Grass Helmet," the aforementioned leadoff, peaks the record early with its stuttering percussion, screeching sound effects and emphatic vocals. It's a slap in the face of all navel-gazing, nonchalant delivery, and it's one the trio performs without [...]

For Flagpole : Eksi Ekso Brown Shark Red Lion The Mylene Sheath The storm is coming. Boston’s Eksi Ekso tells us so. Via backing brass and all manner of accompanying strings, the keys, guitar, bass and drums of this orchestral pop trio turn their individual songs into lush, suspenseful compositions. This wide scope, both stylistically and instrumentally, only adds to Brown Shark Red Lion ’s foreboding. When voices foretell en masse of impending danger, they’ve likely got more credibility than [...]

For Flagpole : Ocha la Rocha 30-Plus Members and Just as Many TV Spots It’s a far cry from working and playing at Atlanta’s Star Community Bar to having songs appear on Hollywood television shows like ABC’s “Dirty Sexy Money” and MTV’s “The Hills.” Somehow, however, Johnny la Rocha and his band Ocha la Rocha seem to be at home doing both...[ Read more ]

In which I for some reason lead with more talk of chicken fillets . For Creative Loafing Atlanta : Secret Cities - Strange Hearts Sometimes a mallet can do more than beat chicken fillets into submission. Occasionally, it's the essential ingredient in an already-virtuosic experimental psych-pop band's rhythmic impact. Fargo, N.D.'s Secret Cities uses mallets to complement the dual lead-vocal duties deftly executed by Charlie [...]

For Atlanta Music Guide : Peter Bjorn and John Gimme Some Almost Gold Gimme Some is perhaps one of the sunniest records of the year, but Swedish trio Peter Bjorn and John took a strange, twisty road to get here. This, the band’s sixth LP, is a far cry from the weird hollowness and intimately narrative lyrics found on their 2006 U.S. breakthrough Writer’s Block. That set of songs still resonates in XM Radio [...]

For Flagpole : Akron/Family S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT Dead Oceans At what point does lack of identity become an identity in and of itself? Akron/Family, the now-trio sometimes called the only hipster-friendly jam band, has undergone multiple personality changes, each record revealing a new layer in their fragrant musical onion...[ Read more ] Previously, on FOA: Akron/Family @ The Earl, 8/13/09

For Flagpole : Pride Parade Growing Without Growing Up Even big kids need room to grow. After five years as a band—scrapping predecessor Brown Frown, releasing an EP and two LPs with Kyle Spence of Harvey Milk and playing to Athens audiences large and small—Pride Parade needed to stretch out. To record the band’s third full-length with the hope of reproducing the effect of its widely adored live show, the quintet retreated to Watkinsville’s Full Moon Studio and, with the help [...]

For Stomp and Stammer a couple months back: Lia Ices Grown Unknown Jagjaguwar I never thought I'd actively think about Paula Cole again. When she stopped wondering where all the cowboys had gone – when I grew out of my teenage obsession with a certain Mr. Dawson Leery – I thought Paula and I were through. And though, admittedly, I'm not one to seek out the female singer-songwriter over other musician types, I heard my fill of [...]

"In which I write a record review while obviously hungry" or "Tapes n tapes n tapes n tapes...." For Tiny Mix Tapes : Tapes 'n Tapes Outside Ibid I like bar food. I like veggie burgers and fries and the occasional (okay, extremely frequent) plate of nachos. I like feeling that when I go somewhere for such food, I can show up looking however I please, that no visual or behavioral state of being (barring unruly and destructive) will be frowned [...]

I feel so privileged to have contributed to Tiny Mix Tapes for the duration of 2010, and weighing in on their best albums of the year was just the icing on the cake. Some of the top 25 albums I voted for made their cut, some didn't, but by asking me to write about TMT's #14 choice, the editors gave me a second stab at a review I thought I could've done better. Read the whole 50-item feature here . See the page with [...]

Today's FOA Video of the Day comes from Thrill Jockey artist Sam Prekop . This killer video (cute anthropomorphized blobs having adventures to celestial electro music) was directed by Jordan Kim of Yo Gabba Gabba fame. Tearfully adorable and annoyingly uplifting: Sam Prekop - The Silhouettes from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo .

Want to hear two people chatter excitedly (jadedly, ruefully, hopefully, gloriously) about the year in music? FOR AN HOUR?! That's what I thought you said! My dear friend Luca invited me to be his guest for the second installment of the Bazookaluca Podcast ! We discuss our respective best-of-the-year recommendations in music and go on plenty of tangents. He even did a great job cutting in the tracks we talked about! It's amazing. CLICK HERE to listen to it streaming on the website. CLICK HERE to listen [...]

So my dear boys in Lazer/Wulf asked me to recreate the brief guest spot I did with them on the song "Who Were The Mound Builders?" when they recorded their spectacular The Void That Isn't a couple years back. For their great return-to-playing-live-in-Athe ns show at Caledonia December 4, I brought my flute and waited beside the stage until the last song. I wondered why my mouth had gone so dry and I wished my beer wasn't gone. Then it was time. And I played. And then it was over. The thing [...]

This is a little out of date, but here's the mini-feature I wrote on Bridges and Powerlines for Flagpole Magazine : Bridges and Powerlines New York’s Bridges and Powerlines share more aesthetically with composer John Philip Sousa than anyone would have expected—especially them. After producing a debut LP driven by shiny keyboard melodies, the quartet has blossomed into a band that makes near-marches. The tunes feature sweeping arrangements that, though still pop-driven and lyrically balladeering, explore frontlines unlike any the band has [...]

One of the now-rare pieces I've written for TMT of late. Hopefully more will follow. I wrote about Wolf People's singles compilation release Tidings earlier release this year here .) For Tiny Mix Tapes : Wolf People Steeple Jagjaguwar ...Completely devoid of the ADHD that made Tidings so charming, Steeple instead errs on the side of monotony, the whole thing sticking firmly to its [...]

Love me some Carnivores , as we well know ! I think this is my fourth time formally writing about them? No matter! They have a new record out, and it's brilliant. Still officially my favorite Atlanta band. ATL represent! For Flagpole : Carnivores If I'm Ancient Double Phantom The name If I’m Ancient deliberately misleads. The grammatically conditional title of this sophomore record from Atlanta’s Carnivores, who, incidentally, [...]

One of the best of 2010!! Women rules, for sure . Or is it "Women rule"...? For sure. Women Public Strain Jagjaguwar Women’s 2008 self-titled debut is one of my favorite records. As with many loves, however, it's difficult to tell you why, exactly. When I first laid ears on it, I thought it was the prettiest ugly thing, interlocking detuned guitar riffs and swaths of wide-lens noise and all. The music was [...]

• Women - Eyesore

Joining the ranks of bands I've written about too many times but can't help myself is Brooklyn's Bear In Heaven. I was able to talk up their re-release of 2009's Beast Rest Forth Mouth (with a remix record) for Tiny Mix Tapes' Delorean blog . Here it goes: 2009: Bear In Heaven - Beast Rest Forth Mouth: Remixed Although I recognize the necessity of re-releasing previously self-released records when artists get signed or get big, as someone who’s job it is to give [...]

In which I get to call Scotland from my cell phone in my car on my first day at a new job! Flagpole feature: Frightened Rabbit's Winter of Mixed Drinks Are They Half Empty or Half Full? Scott Hutchison is probably an optimist. Listening to The Winter of Mixed Drinks , however, his band Frightened Rabbit’s third studio album, sometimes it’s hard to tell...[ Read more ]