review: Beta Radio -- Seven Sisters

Beta Radio
Seven Sisters
Self-released, 2010




Wilmington, North Carolina’s Beta Radio threw their hat into the Americana-Folk ring in early May with their debut album Seven Sisters. Ben Mabry and Brent Holloman (the duo behind Beta Radio) have offered up an album that is instantly familiar and undeniably catchy.

Musically reminiscent at times of Bon Iver’s atmosphere heavy For Emma, Forever Ago or the Grateful Dead’s "Mountains of the Moon" from their 1969 release Aoxomoxoa, the sonic landscape of Seven Sisters is sparse but far from empty. On tracks like "Khima," "Borderline" and "Brother, Sister," the slow scrawl of the banjo melody floats through the song and surrounds you like birdsong, coming at you predictably but surprisingly from several directions at once. Each of the songs on this album stays with you, forming a soundtrack for and changing the shape of the rest of your day.

It’s appropriate that a debut album concern itself with creation and Seven Sisters is no exception. Whether it is the creation of love and a place for that love, as the narrative of the album suggests; or the creation of the universe, as the album’s title and repetition of astronomical and astrological imagery suggests; Beta Radio’s lyrics and music carve out a space in your head and find a way to fit into your own cosmology.

Lyrically, Seven Sisters explores religion, albeit from a couch rather than a pulpit. The religious allusions are subtle and unobtrusive, concerning themselves more with mysticism than proselytization, much like David Eugene Edwards’ 16 Horsepower and Wovenhand.

Line for line, the lyrics are beautiful and surprising. In "A Place for Me" the lines “I wanted not to fight / With my heart but I’ll fight with my fists all night” evoke the heartache of leaving, of lovers’ spats of loss and regret.

The album leaves you with a simple but urgent lyric refrain in "Return to Darden Road"-- “Where do you go? / Come back to me / ‘Cause I love you so."
More after the jump...

review: Jamie Lidell's Compass 'doesn't get where it's trying to go'

Jamie Lidell
Compass
Warp Records, 2010

Review by Quentin Kenny

Unfortunately, Compass by Jamie Lidell too often doesn’t feel like enough of anything. It’s tough to hear Compass and not want to like it. It sounds fantastic. But gone is the relatively straightforward soul-pop of Jim, which frankly sounds almost boring in comparison, lost in a cacophony of distorted sounds and general weirdness.

It would be undeniable if it all went somewhere. But even on the tracks I like a lot, such as “I Wanna Be Your Telephone” or “Enough is Enough”, I find myself jumping back to the beginning, wondering if I missed the part where they turned into a song rather than an assortment of things that I like tenuously, though joyfully, set together. Muddled under the distortion and EFX, it can be tough to find that connection.

It’s the beats that keep it interesting though, sort of like that Sleigh Bells record but with a sophistication and craft that’ll actually keep it interesting for more than the length of time it took you to read this sentence. While that sound manages to keep Compass from feeling half thought-out, overall it’s still only taking me halfway there. I don't like or dislike the album. I'm more disappointed that it doesn't get to where it seems to be trying to go.


More after the jump...

review: Caddywhompus -- Remainder

Caddywhompus
Remainder
Community Records, 2010
(download the record free here...)

mp3: Caddywhompus - "Let The Water Hit The Floor"

This album was dangerously close to being in that zone--the zone of "I listened to long to this album, haven't I reviewed it already?" But the flip side of an album being in that zone is that I've lived it, inhabited it, taken it in and made it my own.



New Orleans' Caddywhompus has carved that place into my life with their latest, Remainder. This is a clash of garage and electro, like if The Black Lips covered Dan Deacon songs. It's amazing. And it's amazing that Community Records is giving this thing away for free. Yes, free.

"Guilt" is my favorite song--their ups and downs, and this amazing groove beat in the middle of it while the cymbals clash all around. This might be math rock for all I know, because Caddywhompus' equations run all over the place. Following it is very difficult, where they go next I'm not sure, but it's all kept together, somehow in some way, and it's this mystery that I've lived, inhabited, taken in and made my own.

Other standouts--"Congo Half-Mask" and "Let The Water Hit The Floor."



More after the jump...

review: De Novo Dahl - Tigerlion

De Novo Dahl
Tigerlion
Theory 8 Records
May 25, 2010




Nashville's De Novo Dahl has been reborn in a familiar place. Set loose from the confines of pop-metal label Roadrunner Records, the group is releasing their new record on Nashville's own Theory 8, who released their first album, Cats and Kittens. The joyous pop disco on Move Every Muscle, Make Every Sound has slid into a more morose, subtle downbeat approach.

"We are kind of like Voltron now," lead singer Joel Dahl told the Nashville Scene in February.

According to that article, Joel and his wife Serai were the only two left after the Roadrunner Records debacle and built the band back up.

No matter. It's obvious the return to Theory 8 records is welcome. There's comfort, there's support, there's familiarity. The words "All we want to do/ is just be with you" echo in the first track "Two Thirds," a slow organ-filled(?) plod of honesty, the band asking us for grace, to forgive and forget, and a request to continue on as if nothing happened.

"For Richard Harper" is the first (and really only) super bouncy track, but it takes a surprising, ironic downturn in the chorus with the words "you gotta keep going" sapping some of the energy, but of course, reinforcing the point.

Don't expect much in the way of "Shout" or "Sexy Come Lately." In fact, any leanings to being a 'pop-rock' group are basically gone now, except maybe the mix of new OK Go and Cut Copy hooking up with The Flaming Lips is the new pop.

Definitely think in terms of "Target Practice" or "Rhythm Phd" from Cats and Kittens. That vibe, that feel--of loose and confident but not over the top--the measure of beats and lyrics valued the same--that's what comes out here.

The first single and total stand out track is "Love Is The Healer"--a nice transition for fans that came to De Novo Dahl via Muscle. There's plenty to chew on though, "Don't Kill Yourself" feels like its from the corner crate of old R&B and "Dusty Drifter" a road-weary ballad given the De Novo spin.

From this slightly new direction, I'm guessing the matching, outrageous costumes are gone, the effervescent pop traded in for gulp of sobering realism. Like the tiger, like the lion--this album is moody, fierce, contemplative and solid. A different fierceness from a few years ago.

More after the jump...

review: Shark Speed -- Education EP

Shark Speed
Education EP
Self-released, 2010

mp3: "Killing Kind"

Here's why I like Shark Speed:
1) that's a good band name. Interesting, but it makes sense. Good names are more than half the battle 2) Not math rock, not pop punk, not emo--but something in those cracks. Old Minus The Bear is the best example for Shark Speed, really I'm at a loss after that. But instead of finding divergent idiosyncrasies to exploit, Shark Speed just pumps those melodies. A giddy and excitable mix, as if Sarah Palin was finally allowed to drill for oil in her backyard.

Their debut album, Sea Sick Music was one of my fav albums of 2009, and this EP is primarily more of the same, except a touch deeper. "Killing Kind" goes a beat too long, but its question provokes--"Are my devils the same as any other man?"--without ever brushing off those who can't hang.

The opener "King of The World" probably sounds dynamic live, something like U2 with an edge (that's not an insult)--the song is grand and self-assured. It's the sound of Joe, Thayne and Jared settling into their identity, like high school kids in rented tuxes after their third hour of prom night.

"Pretend" adds an electronic vice, but it blends it nice, like ordering a smoothie beyond the regular order. Good to see the trumpet make a reappearance here, backed with a requisite distortion as if the whole operation is rocking with the smoothie machine.
Nice EP, nothing fancy, a little richer, good follow-up. Man, my metaphors suck.

More after the jump...

review: The Menzingers--Chamberlain Waits

The Menzingers
Chamberlain Waits
Red Scare, 2010


this is a video of an older song...but it's still awesome

Give it up for The Menzingers. Not too many albums that I've been genuinely excited about this year--but this changes all of that. To the untrained ear this is more punk jargon. The Menzingers though hit in all the right places, such as that slight crash right before the chorus in "Tasker-Morris Station." Yes, it may be punk but you still have to use the right tools.

I always like "urgency." I use that word all the time. For the past....shall we say at least 6 years?...punk has lost some of that, once it became a pretty profitable business to be featured on TV shows, be on Guitar Hero and generally come up with the next underground hit. (What...recent Fearless Records releases, what?)

I kind of hope all that stuff comes for The Menzingers, not because I think they're aiming for that--but because they deserve it. The Against Me! inferences on this album are there, but The Menzingers cut that up with some heavier parts while maintaining an accessiblility---contrast "Come Here Often" with "Male Call"

There are some pop songs on here, but maybe the one with the hookiest chorus also has the best lyrics--style and substance don't have to be separate. On "I Was Born," vocalist Greg Barnett sings "I was born but I seem to have forgot it" as the bridge and "Send all my thoughts to the firing squad" is another line. That's good writing, because I have never thought of those words in that order myself.
Depth in the lyrics, a contrast of styles while maintaining the punk rock edge----sounds like punk rock I want to listen to.

I didn't even mention "So It Goes" or "No We Didn't"--love those songs.

Let's give a moment here to give out some props to Philly punk rock right now. Actually I was just going to mention Title Fight too, but I guess they're not in Philly but somewhere else in PA. Well, here's to PA punk...I know there are tons more bands around there, though I just can't think of them right now.

This is my first experience with The Menzingers and I'm a fool for that. I walked out early on one of their shows, because I was too tired. But I'm not going to tire of this anytime soon.
More after the jump...

review: Museum Mouth - Tears In My Beer

Museum Mouth
Tears In My Beer
Self-released, 2010

Bonus: Full album stream of Tears in My Beer at Punk News

Found Southport, NC’s Museum Mouth in the best of ways: through random chance. Showed up too early at an alt-country show only to find Museum Mouth and twenty of their closest friends indulging in lo-fi freakout. I walked in expecting nothing, only to find something great.

It is true--from all accounts Museum Mouth is still in high school and hail from a small southern coastal town--but have no caution or fear in following Museum Mouth, this band is for real.

And when I say “real,” I don’t mean some talented copycat with emo bangs, I mean Savannah Levin, Graham High and Karl Kuehn have got something here. And Tears In My Beer equals a rough cut of Times New Viking, Vivian Girls, No Age, Be Your Own Pet or Jeff the Brotherhood.

Museum Mouth possesses this droll easiness with a talented carelessness that molds pop-punk anthems with garage rock. The bridge of “The End of Days” could be found on the current Titus Andronicus record, a laid-back split in “Outside” casually masks some nice progressive guitar parts with lyrics that apologize to all their literary heroes.

And those songs are at the end--which care progressively more mature than the beginning ones--they all deal with breakup essentially, but instead of pining and regretting these songs are more rumination.

One of my favorite songs is “I Stopped Caring” with the lines: “You’ve broken me down to the point/ where all my maturity has been replaced by insecurity/ since when have I lacked the confidence to say the words/ that I’m thinking” and then there’s Karl’s (I think) lackluster fuzzed out voice adding deadpan lines to head-shaking surf beats.

Full disclosure here--I also live near the beach, so when the band says that “when the going gets tough/ I’m gonna go to the beach,” well I’m an easy make. But with classy garage punk rock that blends honesty without cheesiness, that’s a young band to hold on to. Tears in My Beer is fun, but not flip; it is memorable without being annoying, it is impressive, without being perfect---but it’s so close. Proceed with full confidence.

More after the jump...

mp3: Snowden "Don't Really Know Me"

mp3: Snowden "Don't Really Know Me"

Snowden's got a new EP and it's different to say the least. No more quick jabs that make you double over with glee. Instead, the fan who just remembers those bouncy jangled jams might be surprised with the turn towards the slo-mo.

In "Don't Know Really Know Me," Jeffares' voice keeps echoing "And you don't want to know...because you don't really know me." Well, maybe we do and maybe we don't.

Back in 2006-07 or something like that, Snowden was one of those bands I was fascinated with. Here was a guy struggling to write a few songs in Athens, GA. But the songs Jordan Jeffares came up with fit the cultural moment as snugly as any Von Dutch hat, popped collar of UGGS shoe ever would.

Snowden churned out an album of bouncy, kind of dancey, new-wave ish songs, like a fuzzier Interpol. And then, bam, Jade Tree Records snatched them up like a fresh Hot Pocket out of the microwave, with a deal that could potentially jolt to them to the top of indie rock. After all this was the label of Alkaline Trio, Pedro The Lion, Jets To Brazil.

And Anti-Anti was released and featured some really awesome songs: title track "Anti-Anti," "Between The Rent" "Like Bullets."

But sometime in 2008 (?), Jeffares wanted out of the three-record deal and he was a free agent. In 2008, he told Creative Loafing:

"I never wanted to write rock songs," Jeffares says. "If anything on Anti-Anti sounds like rock songs, it's because I was trying to get heels to move on the dancefloor in a live setting. When you're a young band, all you have is the live show, and it's hard to win people over with pretty and melodic," he says. "Radiohead had to write The Bends before they could do an album like Kid A, and that's how I've thought of Snowden's albums."

Now a new free EP Slow Soft Syrup has emerged on Noise Trade (download here) and it's a moodier, more introspective, more 80s slow new wave trudge, riding somewhere between The Smiths on synth and Thom Yorke at his saddest.

My hopes are to the highest that Jeffares isn't writing off all of his rock n roll prowess as he indicated above, those were excellent and I could keep perfect time on my steering wheel. Apparently, Jeffares just moved to Brooklyn awhile back, so let's see what comes out of that. Hopefully it doesn't drive him further to "chill-wave" but let's him realize that what Anti-Anti had wasn't so despicable after all.

We'll soon find out as a new album is set to drop in a few months...

More after the jump...

album review: Annuals - Sweet Sister EP

Annuals
Sweet Sister EP
Banter, 2010

mp3: Annuals: "Loxstep"

Raleigh's Annuals are frustrating. I've never wanted to like a band more than this one probably, but no matter how many tries I give them, I can't quite like them. Their first album, Be He Me showed a lot of promise, but their follow-up Such Fun didn't generate the same following, turning more grand-pop-orchestral than indie-folk. Their songs are perfectly calculated. Precise, efficient...moving even. Sweet Sister does not seem as bombastic as Such Fun, but the backbone still maintains this grandiosity. In an indie world where everything seems scruffy, Annuals come off as smug.

The EP opens with some type of motor/air duct sound--a good lead in for something for rough and tumble. Instead "Loxstep" is again U2-lite meets even preppier Vamp Weekend pop. Their sounds, their instruments all sound "off-beat" so to speak, but does not quite resonate fully.

Which doesn't make sense. In all regards, with the increased interest in world & afro-pop & international sounds, Annuals should be full steam ahead. Instead, it's more of a dense, distracting, pretty smoke. Beauty really that doesn't quite connect.

I need more straight-ahead pop-folk-rock like "Flesh and Blood." The melody is simple, comprehensible with flourishes used in the right moments, not in the whole song, the formula that was so successful on Be He Me. Maybe Annuals need a step back for a step forward.


More after the jump...

review: Communipaw - Communipaw

Communipaw
S/T
Self-released, 2010
Review by Josh Rank

Communipaw: "Take Over"
Communipaw: "2:23"
Download the album free here...

As soon as the album started, I breathed a sigh of relief. It’s much easier, and more enjoyable, to review an album that doesn’t suck. Countless listens and paying close attention can get pretty annoying when you don’t like what you’re hearing. Luckily, Communipaw’s self-titled release is one such case that makes the process enjoyable.

“The Morning Hours,” the album’s opening track introduces us to the melancholy mood that permeates throughout the album. The guitar lines, rhythm section, and vocals, are all presented in a laid back manner that eventually crescendos towards the end which leads into the upbeat second track, “Take Over.”

The album flows like this all the way until the end. Each track compliments the next which makes it feel like a full album as opposed to a collection of songs. Many spices color the songs and fill them out beyond a simple guitar, bass, drums, and vocals set-up. Various effect-laden guitars pop in and out in songs like “I Admit” to add an atmospheric element to it that makes it feel thicker. Turn it up loud and it feels like the song is hugging you.

The songs range from the heavily-acoustic “I Don’t Want To Die,” which has a bit of a Radiohead-vibe to it, to the danceable “Black Tambourine,” which seems to draw an influence from surf-rock. It’s this variety in tempo and beat that make the album easy to listen to in one sitting. The melancholy mood pervades throughout, but the presentation changes enough to keep your interest fresh.

Although the songs are well-written and enjoyable to listen to, they aren’t the most original. This is the only gripe I have with the album. There’s nothing ground-breaking or brand new here. However, this doesn’t really matter. The songs are written and performed well enough that it’s easy to look past this one flaw.

I feel like this album would be great to listen to on a sunny, summer day with the windows rolled down and your arm hanging in the wind. Overall, I’d put this album in the “Get it with the extra money from your tax return,” category. It’s not essential enough to buy right away and be late for paying the electric bill, but it is an album that would be nice to have around.

More after the jump...

review: Post Harbor - They Can't Hurt You If You Don't Believe In Them

Post Harbor.
They Can't Hurt You If You Don't Believe In Them
Burning Building Records, 2010

Post Harbor: "Caves Trees and Other Hollow Dwellings"

Moody. Ambient. The sky with no context. Is that autotune in "Shirakashi"? These are the things I think about. But at the 4:30 mark of that song though, sounds "noise-like," as if any of the instruments could have been substituted with a table saw going through a chain link fence. Other parts are like the most recent Isis, but with Jeremy Enigk vocal lines. What's the term for all this? Post-rock math rock?

The Sunny Day lessons hold the truest, maybe tilting towards The Fire Theft perhaps, so prog-rock emo with really interesting instrumental lines.

All of this discounts the music more than I want it to, because this release from Seattle's Post Harbor is quite excellent really. "With A Line Graph I Can Tell The Future" is perhaps a favorite, it's going somewhere, plods and picks up pieces before gelling into a scorching, arching rein of shred in the last minute. It coalesces quite nicely.

"Caves, Hollow Trees and Other Dwellings" sounds as if Mineral was stretched to its farthest lengths, as if there was melody but The Gloria Record never happened.

Crystal. Translucent. The ground was glass and it shattered slowly. These are the things Post Harbor makes me think about.
More after the jump...

review: Worker Bee Tangler

Worker Bee
Tangler
Side With Us Records, 2009

Worker Bee: "Nesting"
Worker Bee: "No Dreams"

Review by Andrew Jones

I must admit that I wasn't crazy about Tangler at first, but the chorus of the first song, "Come Back," got stuck in my head after a few listens. Seriously, it got really stuck in there, to the point where I just had to listen to the song again. About the second or third re-listen through, I realized that I liked "Come Back" so much because its chorus reminded me of the one in another song called "Come Back," this one by the Misfits. Yeah, kinda weird.

Aside from the fact that the phrase, "come back" is held out during the choruses in both songs, the two tunes have no relation. Also, Worker Bee and the Misfits--in so many ways--have nothing in common. Nevertheless, that chorus pulled me in, got me to listen to Tangler again, and I liked what I heard.

I guess it'd be most accurate to call what Worker Bee is doing post-rock, but they're definitely forging their own way. When I finished listening to the album a few times, I kept thinking about Slint and the Walkmen. So for those keeping score at home, in structure and terms of sonic range, I think these might be fair comparisons.

Returning to the opener of Tangler, "Come Back" struts along on a nice back beat and super catchy guitar riff that is partly pleasant but also a little haunting--suited to the longing in the lyrics. The moody atmosphere of this track sets the stage for the rest of the album, which stays sort of murky and soft at the edges throughout.

One of the stand out tracks on the record, "Nesting," chugs along on a clock tick beat and sinister bass line that sneak along before coming to satisfying crashes over echoing guitar lines. The players create a nice sense of anticipation towards the end of the song as they slow things down, trading measures back and forth between drums and guitars. They even toss in some bells towards the track's close, creating a nice texture, before slamming the music to a halt.

"Lip Service" and "No Dreams" both ride along on dreamy, almost math-y guitar riffs that shine over staccato drum beats. Both of these tracks remind me a bit of Radiohead. The guitars on "No Dreams" are particularly beautiful, but the band interrupts these lilting lines with hard edged sonic smashes before settling into a soothing riff that carries the song to its close.

The vocals on the album are interesting. Singer Evan Jewett has a distinctive and deep voice that is certainly unique, though not particularly versatile. However, the songs are suited sonically and in mood with his vocals. Moreover, throughout the album, he succeeds in making up for this lack of range with how emotive he manages to be (listen: "Cold Rats").

Throughout the album there are hints of great promise and a lot of originality from this San Jose quartet. Worker Bee has really put together a solid and intriguing effort.

More after the jump...

Everybody Was in The French Resistance...Now!

Fixin The Charts, Vol. 1

Cooking Vinyl Records, 2009

Review by Quentin Kenny
twitter.com/RvrntlNtgrtE

EWITFR…N is a side-project of Art Brut’s Eddie Argos and The Blood Arm’s Dyan Valdes. The premise is to take well-known pop hits (and a few that remain a mystery even after looking up their origin) and let Argos delve into an alternate point-of-view take on the subject matter.

Unsurprisingly, such a template allows the literary-minded Argos to call forward moments both personable and personal from characters whose opinion you might not have previously considered. The daughter of Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean”, informing her father that he, and not her, was her mother’s true mistake, for example.

The best moments, though, come when you almost forget that you’ve heard a version of all this before. Buoyed by the interplay between Argos’ spoken-word delivery of stories that demand close attention and Valdes’ beautiful 50s girl-group vocals, “Think Twice (It’s Not Alright)” and “Hey! It’s Jimmie Mack” strike a balance between familiarity and independence.

Perhaps most capable of enduring with the masses is lead single “G.I.R.L.F.R.E.N.”, replete with catchier-than-Avril handclaps and the feeling of superiority that comes with being the pursued without having to feign anything but contempt.

The biggest drawback to something like Fixing the Charts, Vol 1 seems to be that unlike the songs being mocked, which have endured time for reasons that are noble or otherwise, several here feel stale or unnecessary shortly after the novelty wears off. It isn’t for a lack of common truths though.

While the details about and sentiment regarding the star of “He’s a Rebel” are known to anyone who’s ever had a friend date someone they don’t like, he doesn’t make for as alluring a focus from this side of the relationship. A saucy Facebook post to be sure, but not a standalone song.

To dwell on such moments is to miss the point, however. This isn’t meant to be pop history. Rather, it is, but it’s not rewriting or even overshadowing that history, just asking that we take a moment and think about that which we’ve previously assumed. As it turns out, maybe we were singing along with the wrong person all along.

More after the jump...

first-person: Mount Righteous

(Some members of Mount Righteous. Some members of the crowd. I am a horrible photographer).

Mount Righteous/ One Wolf/ Andy Bilinski
Feb. 10, 2010
Wilmington, NC

Mount Righteous: "Sing To Me Tiffany"
Buy the Mount Righteous EP!

Talked to my grandfather on the phone before the show and he started choking on a peppermint but I was in North Carolina and he was in Indiana so I couldn't do anything but call him back 5 minutes later not knowing if he would pick up or not. He picked up. He told me Indiana had lost their basketball game. I told him North Carolina and Duke were going to play and he asked if I was going to watch it, I said yes, but I knew that might be a lie because I was going to see Mount Righteous and didn't know how much I would see. Luckily, this is North Carolina and the bar had the game on, they were playing Duke and I'm a fan of Duke, not North Carolina but I understand their pain in such a sucky season.

I sat through one alt-country singer, Andy Bilinski who I like well enough and he told a story about the Loretta Lynn cafe, this story I had heard before, the last time I heard Andy play, but I didn't mind much. Then the lead singer of One Wolf had said he had also been to the Loretta Lynn cafe and they talked in front of us and everyone and God about how bad the coffee was at the Loretta Lynn cafe. Meanwhile while listening to all of this, members of Mount Righteous were sitting at a table near me, and I wanted to ask them about their stolen trailer but I heard nothing and they said nothing. So we waited.

On the Duke game and John Scheyer, their point guard three point specialist was making mad three pointers. Kyle Singler was making mad inside-point forward type plays.

One Wolf got on the stage with something like slow-core stuff, then they pulled out a banjo on their next to last and then played a country song and me and my friend Bill decided they would be a better country band than alt-rock band. They were from Lubbock, TX and the guitarist talked a lot but then the bassist said, "What is a frog with no legs?" "Not hoppy." HA!

Duke center Brian Zoubek made this pass to a cutting Singler. Duke won by 10 points.

During One Wolf's set, this girl with short frizzy hair was mad scribbling, making what turned out to be a set list. She then put on some gloves and started stretching. She was Z, Zi, or Zicole from Mount Righteous. Bass drum Joey was hopping and bouncing during the One Wolf show, even though One Wolf wasn't all that great.

And now I have a new rule: if you see the band stretching before the set, the gauntlet of goodness will be thrown down.



And so it was here as the Mount Righteous 9 gathered all their tuba/ trumpet/melodica stuff and there was bouncy Joey establishing what will be the corollary to the above gauntlet goodness rule: if a band sets up a megaphone instead of a microphone then a double helping of goodness will be thrown down.

Here it goes.

Joey bangs the drum, and Z's cymbals clang and there's Kendall hunched over the bells and the trumpets zoom and the tuba roars, the whole thing buoyed only by Laura's confident melodica playing. Yes, confident melodica playing, and in between Z takes breaks to sing and sing (she probably did musical theater) and sings the most appropriate words for a band that not many people know, from the song "Shake The Rafters Loose":

"You are my favorite band/you write my favorite songs/I come to all your shows to sing along/what you do really agrees with me/we're part of the same scene/it's like it's destiny."

Those words--cursed, stomp and stammer, curse--if I had been eating a peppermint I would have choked--they know my mind and soul our collective mind and soul beyond all gimmicks but HONEST TRUTH with the most ironic knowing wink and nods it all makes me so sick, and they know it makes me sick, they know me, though we didn't meet when our tables were near one another, but those words-- simultaneous genius and snottiness and friendly condescension that we all know and have been apart of---those words.

Mount Righteous doesn't care about those words, they just got all the pretenses out of the way, all the scene posturing, like letting the air out of a balloon, we can just relax instead of being tight.

Mount Righteous says they usually open for One Wolf in Lubbock, TX, but I don't believe them, it's kind of like Kyle Singler starring in that movie while no one looked at John Scheyer and now Scheyer is more important no matter where Singler starred. Mount Righteous is the star, the star being overlooked.



They're off with many creative first person plurals and second person you understood lyrics and at one time Z does this rap/sing with something about turning an elephant into a cow, then this new unreleased "Suburban" song that continues the feeling of the EP more than the polka-dotted inflections of the first album. Then there was "Circle Yes and No" more of that scene-deflating, something else with "uh-oh, uh-ohs." These kids are schooled in the ways of the scene and have thrown if off and thrown it on at the same time.



At the end there's a party on the floor. I came into that place in one condition and came out in an entirely different way.
More after the jump...

review: MLP First Year Edited by J.A. Tyler

(Catch a Friday Five w/ J.A. Tyler tomorrow. Catch his Twitter story going on today from the CCLaP Center.)




MLP: First Year
Editor: J.A. Tyler
Mudluscious Press, 2010

Not going to lie. I was slightly giddy for this release. Don’t usually get that way often, if at all. The myth and legend of such a volume was overwhelming.

Great credit to J.A. Tyler and the Mudluscious Press crew for generating great interest. Or least at I had great interest. The MLP First Year is a collection of MudLuscious’ illustrious roster of chapbooks. Look through this list. See the ones that say "sold out"? They're sold out for a reason. I thought I had missed out.

But then there was this idea: the anthology. And the list of contributors reads like list of a cool kids birthday party for the (post)(post)(post?)modern literati set. So there’s Nick Antosca and Ken Baumann and Ryan Call and Blake Butler or Brian Evenson and Molly Gaudry and Shane Jones and Michael Kimball and Sam Pink. And those are just a few of the few that I recognize from various interweb stations.

Surely the others of the 40 or so contributors are (HTML) giants in their own right, in whatever circle they orbit--because one thing’s for sure, Mr. Tyler has impeccable taste in curating such a volume.

Then there’s that: taste. Or style, rather. Or format. The word “and” in every single case I could find is replaced with an &. There is a lot of CAPS. And what your mom would call “run-on” sentences. I’m assuming these were choices by the authors, which means that MudLuscious has captured that style, perhaps a generational push towards….something, something I'm going to call "urgent absurdist specificity." Rolls off the tongue. Go ahead and get your memes going on that one kids. Create a slideshow in Keynote with those words fading in and out over a spacey background.

Most of the stories have some type of absurdist bent, animals taking on unusual roles, kids turning into rats, people floating in clouds commenting on something or another below. There are bodies and body parts. There is a clown with grease on his forehead giving suggestions about book introductions in a piece by Mark Baumer. There’s a high descriptive quality to the stories. They are not short stories or even flash fiction segments really, but a description of a moment somewhere, part of this world but mostly not of this world where little moves, places and times are captured in fascinating sentences that bend into something about life.

Like in Lily Hoang’s “Mockery of a Cat”:

“The cats, it would seem, are trying to invade the old cat lady’s body. They are trying to replace all her parts, putting cats of various sizes in the spot where a liver or intestine would go.”

And it goes from there, the cat lady slowly becoming like or part of the cats. Body parts, check. Animals, check. Something odd with a realization about life, check.

That's all I got. This anthology is still seeping through my mind. I'm not trying to understand the quirkiness of the stories, but the power of them as a whole.



More after the jump...

review: Paper The Operator Goodbye God

Paper The Operator
Goodbye God
Viper Bite Records, 2010

Paper The Operator: "The Pendulum"

Raleigh's Paper The Operator is a beast of fun awesomeness. Goodbye God captures what Jimmy Eat World, Weezer and Nada Surf do best with an understated, humble style. Whatever Jon Sebastian and his crew touch on this record comes out zany, spunky and pure fun. There's the snappy 60s pop beat on "I Get Around" and "Chemistry Set," programmed beats on "The Pendulum" and 90s modern rock on "Buddy Baby 2." Each of those are distinctive, but they all work together, man do they work.

Paper The Operator is strongest in its confessional tracks such as the intro and lead "Please Proceed" and the heartfelt vote of confidence in "Lefty Lucy." Both are ballads in the mold of their modern rock-power pop but neither becomes contrived, just totally believable.

The pace of the album is very quick, with a few tracks under two minutes. Sebastian has created a formidable album with Goodbye God and has found a recipe that works. Since Paper The Operator is in Raleigh, I hope they hook up with I Was Totally Destroying It for a few show dates; their blend of modern-pop would make an awesome show. I've listened to Goodbye God constantly for over a month and there's no doubt I'll also be listening to it at the end of the year.

Looks like some previous downloads are available off the MySpace page, so hit that up too. And book some more shows, please.
More after the jump...

review: Los Campesinos! Romance is Boring

(Ed. note: Give a hearty handclap of intro to Quentin Kenny. Hopefully he'll appear around here more often than not. Follow him on Twitter here. Also, remember that time Los Campesinos! called us out on Twitter???)



Los Campesinos!
Romance is Boring
Arts & Crafts, 2010
Review by Quentin Kenny

Los Campesinos!: "There Are Listed Buildings"
Los Campesinos!: "The Sea Is A Good Place To Think of The Future"

This one is simple really: if you liked Los Campesinos! before, then you’ll like their newest, Romance is Boring. Probably a lot. Probably more with each listen. And if you didn’t like them before, this record isn’t going to change your mind. Yeah, that’s a mindless way to start a review (hey, it’s my first day here!) but the sentiment behind it feels oddly foreign in a scene where young artists reach levels of popularity incongruous with their level of experience or talent.

Undoubtedly, there’s growth and maturity and an expansion of sound on Romance is Boring, but those things that define why you feel the way you do about the family Campesinos are still present as well and once again those are the things that stand out. There's the overblown relationship drama, which lends itself to visions of kids using his own lyrics for the sort of bathroom scribblings Gareth himself decries on "We've Got Your Back." There are the accompanying explosions of sound that play like freak-outs, often before leading into massive multi-voiced harmonies.

Underneath it all still bubbles that domineering sense of emotion, ready to detonate at any time. And it's those moments that keep alive the band-despised notion that their music is "twee." (ed: see Twitter intro reference). The label no longer truly fits, but that doesn't make it any easier to ignore.

Amidst all that which reads and can sound like frivolity though, it’s tough to shake the impression that these guys know precisely what they’re doing. Or that what might come across as cacophony is instead quite calculated and reveals only and exactly what the band desires.

Halfway through the great opener, “In Media Res”, there’s a breakdown that does nothing if not reinforce the fact that these kids know more about their influences than I’ll ever begin to comprehend about those same bands. And there’s a subtlety of experience, manifest in how Gareth switches up the cadence in using “inevitably” during the choruses to the immediate favorite “Straight in at 101.”

Unsurprisingly, near every song has at least one of those trademark moments that cause goosebumps. It might come immediately after or during one of those eruptions, but it always demands to be replayed, sung along with at max volume, lingering hours after the stereo has been turned off as you realize you're still humming it. Moments such as the aforementioned breakdown in the opener, the opening plea of “Straight in at 101”, the gang vocals that close the record, or essentially any time a female voice emerges.

Those moments are everywhere and they raise up songs that heretofore felt throwaway. They are the comedown after the blast, but in that composure lies the true vitality of the song. So maybe it isn't necessary that Los Campesinos! always have a method behind their supposed madness, they certainly know how to throw 30 seconds together to make the question inconsequential.

Much has been made, and justifiably so, about Romance is Boring being the third album in 18 months for the band. The more important idea therein may be the rarity of any band making music this fun, this good, and this uncompromisingly emotional so consistently.

Hyperbole and affability aside, Los Campesinos! and their sound continue to grow. And by now, you’re either with them or you’re missing out.
More after the jump...

review: The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris

The Unnamed
by Joshua Ferris
Reagan Arthur Books, 2010

If you hear someone describe this book as "about a lawyer," they're lying. This book is no more about a lawyer than McDonald's is about floor tiles. Both entities contain their descriptors, but each is about something completely different. Instead this is a book about impulses, uncontrollable impulses. It's a book of family and commitment and being. It's a book of relationships and marriage and that "I do" phrase. This book is not about a lawyer.

It's also a book about illness, and mental illness. I once read an essay something or another about how recent literature has taken a discernible bent towards dealing with medication and the effects of pharma (someone send me the link...I think it was at n + 1, but I couldn't find it...).

Tim Farnsworth is subjected to bouts of uncontrollable walking. Not pacing, but walking, the kind where he strips halfway down and just goes and goes with no control. Due to this ailment, he is strapped to his bed, he misses work, he leaves places with no announcement or goodbye. He tries and hides this from his workplace, saying that his wife has cancer, but it affects his career, destroys his career.

No one has this certain walking disease, the New England Journal of Medicine can't figure it out, all the specialists this side of the Mayo and Cleveland clinics can't figure it out. Tim is alone in his disease.

But he is not alone in his life. His wife picks him from far off distances, his daughter Becka becomes a babysitter for her father. He misses large chunks of their life from work, and then eventually misses large chunks of their lives due to his walking.

Eventually, Tim ventures on his own, alone to handle the disease. Ferris rightly details the frantic nature of Tim's walking and the scant details he is able to retain, finding himself in public parks and baseball fields, this is where the genius of Ferris is really evident. It's the third section, second chapter and it is descriptive, it is fast, it is perfectly applicable to Tim's situation, it is some of the best writing I've seen in awhile. An excellent combination of anyplace-highway land and the menacing rambling thoughts of Tim that mixes his lawyer-ese with bouts of soul-bashing, it is a stumble into madness, physical breakdown and loneliness.

Ferris, like in his previous novel, is deft at changing pace and perspective. We see Tim, then his wife Jane, their stories told separately in some sections, but intermingling where appropriate. The third-person narrator that Ferris invokes is sometimes unreliable to great effect, such as Tim meeting an old friend in a restaurant, and I'll leave it at that.

Tim is obstinate, but also afflicted. His disease causes pain on others, he eventually learns how to handle it, with a potent pharma-cocktail. Then, in many ways, it's too late.

There are some disappointments here. Tim's disease described is vague and unknown, but it's almost too much so. Tim walks a lot, why can't he stop and talk to someone? Why does he end up in random places, why doesn't he just turn back around? Why doesn't a treadmill work very well? Why can't he walk laps or in a specific area? Simple questions like those are never fully addressed, the reader is just expected to be in agreement, the suspension of belief almost too great to get at Ferris' main point---the bounds of marriage.

There are some mixed reviews, but most of those come from too many comparisons to the "other" work, a clever conceit with a lot of funny moments. This is not more of the same, there is really nothing funny or humorous at all.

But this is a book that Save(s) Ferris from just being a gimmick. It would have been easy for Ferris to take the Max Barry route, writing clever corporation satire one after another in a time and place where that is vogue. This firmly puts Ferris on the other side of the fence, into that "serious" writer side. I would be surprised if some consider this book better than Then We Came...but that doesn't matter. Because Ferris puts his career in a steady upward trajectory with this one, it builds and diversifies at the same time. If people doubted Ferris before, The Unnamed shows Ferris to be no joke.

More after the jump...

review: Pianos Become The Teeth Old Pride

Pianos Become The Teeth
Old Pride
Topshelf Records, 2010

Pianos Become The Teeth: "Filial"

Surprised at this release, like the time I went to the mall and the pretzels weren't stale. Like that time. I say "stale" because that's my new fear in this genre--the screamo genre, essentially. It catapulted up the ranks (did it not?) of popularity for the young set, a steady fad of the early 2000s, bands spreading from each and every way like unwanted crabgrass.

Notice, though, I said "surprised" and the words "weren't stale." Because Baltimore's Pianos Become The Teeth isn't stale, yes familiar, but fresh, fresh. What they do differently, than say Emery or even Thursday's last release, is they actually know how to play their instruments, how to craft their favorite sounds into a unified organism, to maintain their post-rock-emo-hardcore influences but expand on them.

For sure there is a heavy Fear Before The March of Flames emphasis, older Alexisonfire, but also a significant dose of more math and post-rock blends. What's downplayed are the pop-punk-rock elements, really it glides from nice math rock proclivities into hardcore very quickly, eschewing some of the typical rote elements that would bog down lesser bands.

Pianos excels with the opener "Filial," an all-encompassing post-rock number, but then moves into the screamo category with "Quit Benefit" and "Sleepshaker," the latter song being something that Thursday needs to look at to freshen their sound a bit--the intro is all-on percussion, the guitar melody line and bass lines mostly found in the instrumental set like Explosions in the Sky. Pianos Becomes the Teeth combines these two methods in a sound not usually heard, but it should satisfy the intensity of even the hardcore fans. "Pensive" does the same thing, except gentler and more alluring with loud vocals, like playing a game of paintball in Wal-Mart. In the end it's harmless, but still is messy.

Songs like "Cripples Can't Shiver" capturing downbeats like a frozen snow shovel. Rock hard, but steady and ready. Ok, "Jess and Charlie" kind of throws all that out, it's very energetic. And this album is only 8 songs? No matter, it's all fully formed.

Really, Pianos Becomes The Teeth excels on all levels, maybe the choruses could be a bit more defined, more "memorable" (dare I say 'catchy' or does that invalidate everything above?), but don't worry this avoids any of that territory, Pianos doesn't pander. Finally, the screamo genre has moved forward again.
More after the jump...

missed it the first time: Most Likely You'll Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine by Ben Tanzer

Most Likely You'll Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine
By Ben Tanzer
Orange Alert, 2008
Review by Josh S.

I approach most of the reviews on Deckfight divided. My mind is rarely made up before I sit down. I write and somehow make up my mind. Like most writers (I think), the writing process is a process of decision making. It is through this act I make up my mind, not before I write.

So it goes with Ben Tanzer’s Most Likely. A book I was sure I was going to love, only to find that I admired its craft far more than its actual story; that’s the most backhanded compliment I’ve ever given, (perhaps I hit it out of bounds?). This is a story of one couple (two maybe), Jen and Geoff. Jen and Geoff are overly anxious about one another, somewhat repelled by each other, but enthralled enough to start breaking the manufactured dating rules, enthralled enough to wonder if after only a couple dates if this relationship is THE relationship, enthralled that this relationship in being THE relationship may be the relationship that breaks all the rules that their single friends and acquaintances still follow.

Think Annie Hall, or more recently 500 Days of Summer with a lot of dialogue and self-analysis and that’s Most Likely. The story is set in the early months of this decade, a key fact for understanding their position in life and their use of landline phones. In some ways, this is also the trusty buddy comedy, the most interesting lines and advice and scenes come from the repeated office-advice scenarios, something familiar for anyone with a girlfriend/boyfriend that the office knows about. No advice is solicited, but relationships are the one topic where everyone has advice.


Ben Tanzer!

Repetition is important here, so important that I didn’t realize that it was central to Ben’s writing strategy, which initially made me loathe it a bit. At first, I didn’t get the threads like “Geoff finds Paul and asks him if he wants to spark one in the alley behind the office. They spark one.” Ben was being kind of glib and stupid in an effort to be too ironic and too flat, but the humor came to me and by the end of the book, I got the trope and looked forward to it, especially advice from Descartes the management guru.

And then I got it or think I got it. The office scenes were routine and everyday in light of a possible, life-altering, non-routine relationship. What was thought initially to be routine eventually became something beyond the routine, but it all started in the routine. And that routine expanded beyond just simple office scenarios, but also into how Geoff and Jen date, their old routines influenced by habit and family and friends. Everyone has dirty laundry and it must be sorted through. Speaking of rules and dirty laundry, I’ll be honest, I was surprised at the frankness of sex in this book. I thought there would be more conversations about condoms and diseases and other contraceptives, especially since so much is exchanged not with friends but complete strangers--maybe there’s a stereotype, maybe it’s real-life, maybe it’s too real to make a point, or at least that worked with the rebound girl Claudia, so I think I talked myself around to understanding it---so it makes sense then with Geoff and Jen because it didn’t make sense for Geoff and Claudia. I got it now, I guess.

Written in short bursts (84 chapters in about 175 pages) and mostly in dialogue, Most Likely flies and every word that the characters speak is casual, but important. The use of dialogue was a highlight for me, I too am really intrigued by fiction just told in conversations between characters with little narration--I think the technique is under-appreciated, under-taught and under-utilized. And Ben has such an ear for it, a great mimicker of natural rhythms and conversations that each character is easily defined by their conversations, a task that as people we do all the time, though in writing is so much harder to nail down. So way to go Ben! (that was a forehanded compliment).

Buy Most Likely You'll Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine at Orange Alert.
Visit Ben's blog here. Read Ben's Friday Five.
More after the jump...