The
countdown continues…
30.
Haunted Hearts
“Something That Feels Bad is
Something That Feels Good” 7”
(Zoo Music)
The first
Haunted Hearts release is a collaboration between Brandon Welchez (Crocodiles) and Dee Dee Penny (Dum Dum Girls) who not only run the
label this record was released on, but are also married. What they’ve come up with is not surprisingly
a perfect melding of their two respective bands’ sounds. They retain both of their cooler than cool, mildly lo-fi aesthetic with the simple drum
machine and buzzing and drill bit driving guitar work. This harkens back to late 80s Jesus and Mary Chain – landing
somewhere between Darklands and Automatic sound-wise and there is
nothing wrong with that. “Something That
Feels Bad is Something That Feels Good” comes along with both of their vocals
blending perfectly to tell us “it’s alright…you can tie me tight.” Yes, this is a song that sticks to its
guns. The title says it all. The more, let’s say, naughty something feels, sometimes the more we cannot resist its
pull. Meanwhile, the flipside provides
another smash song with “House of Lords.”
Where on the A-Side, Brandon
takes the main vocals with Dee Dee chiming in emphasizing backing and
harmonizing vocals; “House of Lords” finds them singing perfectly in unison
atop of a relentless bass line. This is
a pretty cool little single and there’s always the hope that they decide to
explore this further, but without disturbing the beautifully consistent release
schedule of their respective bands.
How’s that for demanding?
29.
Bad Religion
True North
(Epitaph)
What can I
say about Bad Religion that has not already been said a million times
before? This is their 16th
album in their 33 or so years as an entity and they haven’t changed a whole lot
during most of that time. They have
their little eras with changes and small upheavals, but they’ve been putting
out essentially the same album since 1988, and somehow this hasn’t hurt them
all that much. Maybe it’s because they
are so good at what they do. They are a
rare intelligent voice of reason and they are willing to take on the tough
political issues of the day. Maybe their
outrage and disgust would become more tiresome, if things weren’t always so
fucked up. This time, much of the focus
is on the state of the nation since the financial collapse, and the continuing
robbery from the poor by the wealthy with help from our government, no less (“Robin
Hood in Reverse,” “Land of Endless Greed”), and the frightening direction of
willing ignorance (“Past is Dead,”).
Since the return of Mr. Brett in 2001, Bad Religion have wielded three
guitarists and recommitted to the short, fast explosions of tight melodic punk
that they perfected in the late 80s (in my opinion, their peak – from 1988’s Suffer through to their zenith 1990’s Against the Grain. Though, personally, I love the dark Generator from 1992 and the stylistic
breakthrough of 1993’s Recipe for Hate). It is all done with great precision and yet
somehow maintains its urgency and excellence.
Yes, they’ve become an institution, but it’s one that I can get behind.
28.
Low
The Invisible Way
The Visible End EP
“Stay” (download)
(Sub Pop)
For Low’s 10th
album (in a twenty year history!!), they’ve recruited Jeff Tweedy of Wilco to
produce. When I first heard this, I
thought that maybe they’d delve back into their more noisy experimental sounds
of their first two with Sub Pop (The
Great Destroyer and Drums and Guns),
but instead they’ve stripped everything down to a dry spare acoustic sound,
which is quite different than the open air echo cathedral sound of 2011’s C’Mon (2011 #29 pick seen here).
It’s amazing how many ways this modest three piece manages to create
songs that are so simple and sparse and yet so different from album to
album. Is this really the first LP where
the instrumentation has been dominated by acoustic guitars and piano? The clarity and space in this recording
remind me of the first time I saw them perform live at Portland’s old X-Ray Café. I’ll never
forget sitting on the carpeted bench stairs/seats in the back, hearing their
glacial introspective sounds mix with the rush of the traffic from Burnside
just outside - truly transformative. This
is a remarkable and cohesive album, especially with more balance between Alan
Sparhawk and Mimi Parker’s lead vocals – giving added depth and variety. Parker generally takes over the lead vocals
about 2-3 songs per album, but here sings upfront in half (while still adding
her magical backing vocals to Sparhawk’s songs). There are some highlights here, such as the
opening “Plastic Cup,” which finds a way to gradually shift us into their
current direction inside a song that would be fitting on any of their
records. “Clarence White” is a solid
centerpiece with Mimi’s pounding bass drum and handclaps guiding us through an
intriguing tribute, while the Parker led “Just Make it Stop” is the show
stopping climax of the album. It isn’t
until about halfway through “On My Own” that we encounter the discordant
experimentalism that I had predicted before hearing the album.
The Visible End is a 4-track EP that came along with
early copies of the album and is simply and odds and ends addendum. This includes demo versions of “Clarence
White” and “Holy Ghost,” and a nice emboldened version of the album’s “So Blue
(So Young)”. The EP closes with a long
droning instrumental named “Clarence What?”
Finally,
after performing Rihanna’s touching
piano ballad “Stay” at a music festival during the summer, Low released a
proper recording as a download to raise money for the Rock for Kids charity. This
cover is as straightforward as can be.
They do nothing to change its simple beauty and starkness. In the past, their covers have shown them
molding post punk classics like Joy
Division’s “Transmission” and The
Smiths’ “Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me” into their own unique
deliberate style. However, “Stay,”
sounds like a song that could’ve sat somewhere on The Invisible Way as an original.
Nice trick and more than worth the buck for a good cause
27.
Arts & Leisure
Choose Your Adventure
(Test
Pattern)
I know next
to nothing about Sacramento,
California, but I sure am liking
the music that that city’s label, Test
Pattern Records, has been releasing the last few years! This debut album from Arts & Leisure
rises from the quiet end of the band Baby
Grand (one of apparently many out there).
Baby Grand had four releases, but I only discovered their brand of
breezy French inflected orchestral pop with last year’s finale Arts & Leisure. So, now, three of that band’s members
stripped away some of that additional instrumentation, turned up the
amplifiers, added a new bassist/vocalist Becky Cale, and borrowed their final
album’s title for their new band name and the results are excellent. This reminds a bit of when the late great Sacramento band Holiday Flyer morphed into the California Oranges. They were essentially the same band, but
suddenly stricken with a pop rock buzz that was markedly different than their
predecessor. Whatever the case, this new
album is most welcome. The dynamics and
variety and straight to the point melodies and arrangements (the entire thing
flies by in less than a half hour) make this a memorable and fun adventure to
choose. Gerri White’s breathy vocals are
more upfront and sharper here and her voice is perfectly suited to be
emboldened by the addition of Cale’s harmonies.
The album is bookended by twin dreamy songs referring to flight
(“Seconds from Flight” and “Enjoy Your Flight”) that gradually ease us into
this new band’s direction. It is with
the ultra poppy “Wolf Pack” that we really see the changes. This addictive jaunty two and a half minutes
captures the sunshine fueled energy and buzz that has timelessly run through
the annals of pop and yet always sounds fresh.
This isn’t far removed from Southern California’s
wonderful Nushu. Likewise, “Toria” bursts onto the scene with
a crafty guitar melody, handclaps and a lingering feedback hum that guide us
through another exciting tune. There’s
also the quick jangle tumultuous “Rescue Me” and the building anticipation of
“Hello” that guide us from the difficulty of getting over heartbreak into a
fresh new crush. It’s funny, because I
prefer this upbeat new direction from their previous band, but it’s the quieter
poignant moments that really shine here.
The acoustic beginnings of “Once” easily flow into a wonderfully elegant
floater that hints at early Lush,
while the remarkably poignant and stunning “The River” begins with a beautiful
haunting bass line that creates a melancholic and reflective mood that wouldn’t
sound out of place on the Ocean Blue’s
Cerulean. This song is worth the price of admission
alone. What a great debut!
26.
Magnet School
“Fur & Velvet” (download single)
(self-released)
Here’s a Texas band who have
apparently been around for some time (they show a debut album dating back to
2007), but this is the first I’ve heard of them - and what an
introduction! This two song digital 7”
(?) is an absolute scorcher!! “Fur &
Velvet” comes on with a pounding beat and an open-ended heavily effected guitar
strum before a second grinding guitar kicks in and off we go. This song draws a lot of inspiration from the
magnificence of Swervedriver –
though the vocalist has that scratchy classic rock voice of Liam Gallagher from Oasis.
In a just world, a driving massive sounding song like this should be
getting airplay all over the globe. The
“b” side of this release, “Swan Dive,” is an instrumental that unbelievably
burns even hotter than the “a.” The shredding
guitar assault reaches for the skies, while the heavy rhythm section keep
things tight and moving forward. This is
a fundraiser for their second album and with songs like this, I urge you to get
involved!
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