Knock Knock - We Will Raise Your Child (Test Pattern, 2012)

Knock Knock

We Will Raise Your Child

Test Pattern

2012

Rating: 6.5 fluttering leaves out of 10

When you review records you get emailed a lot of random crap.  Some catches your attention, some doesn't; some is good, some is awful, most is mediocre and not even worth noting.  In the email I got for Knock Knock I saw they were from Sacramento and it mentioned the great goofy punk band The Bananas, and now I was paying attention.  

Well, this doesn't sound anything like the Bananas. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit disappointed.  They're not even a part of that garage-punk-pop-goof rock tradition that Sacramento has done so well for years, despite the silly image portrayed on the cover of this release.  Once I got past my disappointment, it's not a bad little indie pop record - catchy songs, lots of harmonized male and female vocals, and what feels like a lot of instruments being played on top of each other some of the time.  If I was told this was a side project of some of those Broken Social Scene kids, I'd probably believe it.  It's all very pleasant and enjoyable and if it got to the right set of ears it could surely enjoy a little college radio success.  I guess even old Sacramento punks mellow out and play dad rock eventually.  Ain't nothing wrong with that...

The Ceiling Stares & The Super Vacations - Split 7'' (Sweaters & Pearls / Velocity of Sound, 2011)

The Ceiling Stares & The Super Vacations
Split 7''
Sweaters & Pearls / Velocity of Sound
2011

Rating: 7 theoretical candidates out of 10

I knew nothing of The Ceiling Stares before listening to this seven inch - apparently, they're from Pittsburgh and their song "A Tunnel Through the Air" had been previously released, just not on vinyl.  Jangly, a little bit of drone/shoegaze - pretty straight-forward indie fare really, but not drab or boring.  Kinda sounds like a thousand songs I've listened to over the last few years going for the lo-fi garage-psych thing, but one of the better of those thousand.

I was aware of the band on the flipside of the slab though - The Super Vacations.  They're from Virginia and play down here in Raleigh a fair amount, and I've heard good things from friends even if I haven't managed to see them myself.  They fit in two songs (the record is set to 33 1/3), more upbeat numbers than what the Ceiling Stares brought - punk-infused indie rock, reminding me (but not really sounding like) the Triangle's beloved Whatever Brains.  Of these two bands this is my preferred one, and I really need to get off my ass and see them next time they come to town. 

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - 'Allelujah! Don't Bend Ascend (Constellation, 2012)

Godspeed You! Black Emperor
'Allelujah! Don't Bend Ascend
Constellation
2012

Rating: 7.5 double plays out of 10

I often think of Godspeed You! Black Emperor as the godfathers of instrumental post-rock... not because they were the first to play this style of music or are the most popular, but they just seem the most...important.  I realize this is mostly me talking out of my ass, but their music seems like it is more than just a gang of Canadian musicians playing long songs with no vocals, it feels much more special than that.  Maybe I'm reading more into their music than I should, but based on the most recent live viewing of the band a lot of other guys between 30 and 40 who don't like to shave feel the same way. 

Anyways, first record in a decade, four songs in a little under an hour, blah blah blah, all the shit all the other reviewers are saying.  Bottom line - it's awesome.  Opening track "Mladic" at nearly 20 minutes long is worth the price of the album by itself.  The song gets so heavy around the middle that they venture into metal territory.  Really beautiful stuff.  The other epic track "We Drift Like Worried Fire" is also a fine addition to their canon, though not as heavy as the first.  The other two are just noisy filler for my money, but I'm sure the avant-whatever folks will dig it. 

Beachwood Sparks - The Tarnished Gold (Sub Pop, 2012)

Beachwood Sparks
The Tarnished Gold
Sub Pop
2012

Rating: 6.5 empty streets out of 10

Once upon a time Beachwood Sparks released one of the most perfect country rock records of all time, "Once We Were Trees," then pretty much broke up soon thereafter (yeah there was an EP too but let's not ruin the narrative).  And just like they seemed to disappear for no reason, they reappeared in 2012 with a new record seemingly out of the blue.  "The Tarnished Gold" sounds very much like a follow up full-length for OWWT, with all of the Byrds and Gram Parsons and Flying Burrito Brothers comparisons still fully applicable.  If I didn't know better I'd actually assume this was recorded right after OWWT and they just got around to releasing it, but all the press tells me otherwise and who am I to argue.  

One thing I will say, and I'm not even sure how exactly to explain it, but I don't feel the magic I felt off of OWWT when I listen to this new record.  It's pretty, and I'm sure I'll listen a few times, but I still listen to OWWT all of the time. Not sure "The Tarnished Gold" will have the same staying power for me.

Fat History Month - A Gorilla EP (Sweaters and Pearls, 2012)

Fat History Month
A Gorilla EP
Sweaters and Pearls
2011

Rating: 6.5 packets of horseradish out of 10

This Fat History Month release is both an EP and a seven inch, four songs packed on a slab of translucent yellow vinyl.  And it's set to play at 33 1/3, which always screws with you the first time you listen cause you set it to 45 like most seven inches and you get a helium-voiced mouse singing back at you.  

As for the music, I'm going to throw it into the "folky art rock" bucket, as that is the closest fit.  I hear some Joan of Arc and some early Modest Mouse...it feels like something I would have been enamored with somewhere between 1995 and 1997, when a lot of bands seemed to be heading down this musical path.  I still dig it though; especially the first song on the flip side of the record, "Heart Takes a Beating" - it's the most upbeat of the bunch, actually reminding me a bit of one of the Triangle's local treasures Lonnie Walker...ramshackle and adventurous but built on a pop base.  The band apparently also has a full-length record out, and this is interesting enough to make me want to hear more. 

Lower Dens - Nootropics (Ribbon, 2012)

Lower Dens
Nootropics
Ribbon
2012

Rating: 8 tin cans out of 10

Baltimore - so hot right now!  Add Lower Dens to the list of hot-shit band's coming out of the the home of "The Wire."  Actually, maybe you already added them after their debut "Twin-Hand Movement," a fine record but not nearly as impressive as this one.  You can feel the band's growth here, and while the elements that make up this new batch of songs might be the same the construction feels different - more confident maybe, more comfortable in their own skin, or some such claptrap.  To boil it down to it's simplest terms, this band is what you'd get if Blonde Redhead listened to a ton of Kraftwerk and Can and then wrote a new record under that influence.  Since they are also from Baltimore you'll also hear comparisons to Beach House, but for my money Lower Dens are far superior musicians and songwriters.  The opening three tracks "Alphabet Song," "Brains," and "Stem" (with the last two basically functioning as one track) are as strong an intro as an album can possibly have.  From there you're just sucked in. 

Guided by Voices
Class Clown Spots a UFO
Guided by Voices Inc.
2012

Rating: Robert Pollard Robert Pollards out of Robert Pollard

I'm not even sure how you review a Guided by Voices record these days, or if there is even any point.  It's mostly the original line-up, there are a million songs on the record, and it sounds exactly like you expect a GBV record to sound - some pop gems, some generic tracks, and the occasional dud.  "Class Clown Spots a UFO" has nothing on the band's classic years, but it's not an embarrassment either.  The title track is great, "They and Them" reminds us why having Tobin Sprout in the band is important, "Starfire" holds orchestral pop beauty, and other songs will transport you back to 1995.  

While I might not get as excited for a new GBV album as I once did, it seems impossible to ever dislike what they do. 

Boyd Rivers - You Can't Make Me Doubt (Mississippi, 2012)

Boyd Rivers
You Can't Make Me Doubt
Mississippi
2012

Rating: 8 legal pads out of 10


I'm just going to copy from the press that everyone else seems to be copying from:

"First full length album by one of the greatest Gospel musicians of all time! Boyd Rivers was an amazing but unfortunately, little known Gospel artist. Comparisons could be made to Charlie Jackson, but in the end not too many people sound anything like Boyd Rivers. Side one features Boyd playing stunning electric guitar & belting out 6 incredibly heavy songs. Side two finds Boyd playing acoustic guitar - a bit mellower but still impassioned. All the material on this album has never been released, with the exception of 'Fire In my Bones'."

To sum up - mostly undiscovered gospel musician (that sounds like a classic blues man) finally sees a record of just his material released by Mississippi records.  Whether Rivers is playing acoustic or electric, his music & voice feel very pre-war blues (the best blues there is in case you were wondering).   It's a really great album, maybe not so easy to find, but any fan of pre-war blues would be well served to seek this out. 

Nate Hall - A Great River (Neurot, 2012)

Nate Hall

A Great River

Neurot

2012

Rating: 7.5 gold ingots out of 10

There seems to be a small movement of metal band leaders putting out solo records, and now we have Nate Hall of US Christmas joining the fray.  "A Great River" is just a man and his guitar, singing dark folk songs drenched in reverb, the soundtrack to life on a rundown farm just after harvest season.  The fields lie fallow, the trees barren, the temperatures are brisk and the sun sets early...I'm pretty sure that doesn't make any sense but it's the picture I see in my head.  You could also probably compare this record to Neil Young, which might make more sense given it is actual music.  I often compared his band USX to Young, but that was the more rockin' Crazy Horse era - this obviously sounds much more like Young's folkier output.  Not the vocals so much, but the guitar and overall ambiance of the album.  "A Great River" runs ten tracks with two covers - one of the Townes Van Zandt song "Kathleen," and an a cappella version of the traditional song "When the Stars Begin to Fall," both fine choices that fit well with the originals.  

It will be curious how things progress from here - how USX fans take to this direction of music, how Hall splits his time between the band and solo material going forward, and whether or not I'll ever try to describe music via farming again.  Poor metaphors aside, this is a fine album, one I'd recommend.

Chromatics - Kill for Love (Italians Do It Better, 2012)

Chromatics
Kill for Love

Italians Do It Better

2012

Rating: 8 overdone pot roasts out of 10

This new record by Chromatics really makes me want to get in my car and ride around with the windows down at night.  Is this because they had a prominent song in the film "Drive" and now whenever I hear them all I can think of is old cars, little dialogue and dreamy RyGo?  Yeah, probably.  But still.

I'm pretty sure I saw these guys play back in the early-to-mid 2000s, back when they were trying to be an art punk band.  That version of the band wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either.  Then somewhere along the way, many years and numerous member changes later, Chromatics turned into the American counterpart to M83.  And it works - it really fuckin' works.  Every review mentions how much this sounds like the soundtrack to a John Carpenter movie from the late seventies or early eighties, and for good reason - because it sounds exactly like the soundtrack to one of those movies.  I love those movies.  

I should also mention that this record is over 90 minutes long.  It's a really damn long record.  to listen to this whole thing you'll be taking a long drive.  They also open the record with a cover of Neil Young's "Hey Hey My My" except they renamed it "Into the Black" which isn't fooling anyone.  But it's a great cover.  Kind of odd to place it as the opening track, but it works well enough. 

Jeff the Brotherhood - Hypnotic Nights (Warner Bros, 2012)

Jeff the Brotherhood
Hypnotic Nights
Warner Bros
2012

Rating: 7 chapped lips out of 10

Nashville's Jeff the Brotherhood are one of my favorite live bands going these days, and their records ain't half bad either.  Somehow they manage to couple psychedelic stoner rock with Beach Boys-influenced pop songs and make it work.  This newest record "Hypnotic Nights" is their first for a major label, and as you might expect it has a little more polish on it.  I guess Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys had a hand in the recording process, though I'm not sure anyone should care unless they're entering a trivia contest.  

Ultimately, despite the label jump and fancy producer, it still *mostly* sounds like a Jeff the Brotherhood record.  Not every song is a rocker, there's a little weird instrumentation here and there (saxophone, keyboards, and I think I hear some glockenspiel even), and it sounds really clean.  But there are a ton of great, catchy songs - "Sixpack" is a clear favorite, one of the songs of the summer (even if it is fall now that I'm getting around to listening to this).  A few of the old fans might grumble about the band's shiny new wrapping, but it's still the same great music inside to me. 

Various Artists - Just Tell Me That You Want Me: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac (Hear Music, 2012)

Various Artists
Just Tell Me That You Want Me: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac
Hear Music
2012

Rating: 6.5 sleeping dogs out of 10

I'm a notorious Fleetwood Mac detractor (mostly because of creepy ass Stevie Nicks and her weird white witch ways), and usually not overly excited when it comes to tributes and compilations, but the band line-up on this one gave me enough pause that I decided to listen through it.  The results are pretty decent actually, certainly much better than the low expectations I had set.  Being a compilation it's the typically uneven affair they almost always are, but the hits outnumber the misses here.  My vote for the best track is either Best Coast's rendition of "Rhiannon" or Lykke Li's "Silver Springs," both quite enjoyable.  Other great covers are Antony doing "Landslide," a song I didn't think it was possible for me to like; Lee Renaldo and J Mascis getting guitar-riffic on "Albatross"; the New Pornographers' pop take on "Think About Me"; MGMT's weird vocoder version of "Future Games"; and the always underrated Craig Wedren teamed with St. Vincent for "Sisters of the Moon."  All of the bands do a fine job of making the songs their own - for a couple of these I wouldn't even know they were covers if it didn't explicitly say so.  

If a naysayer like me can enjoy this, I gotta imagine any Fleetwood Mac fans who crossover as fans of some of these bands will be in for a real treat. 

Spencey Dude & the Doodles - Night Problems (California Clap, 2012)

Spencey Dude & the Doodles

Night Problems

California Clap

2012

Rating: 7 pizza boxes out of 10

Let's get this out of the way up front - despite the name, Spencey Dude & the Doodles is not a kids band.  Do not go into this expecting a newer, hipper Raffi. Not saying they wouldn't play for some kids, it's just the songs might be about drinking and partying and making out instead of the alphabet.  Stop sheltering your damn children I say.  Anyways, the debut LP by this Bay Area trio (featuring members of Gris Gris and Dreamdate) is catchy.  And I mean real fuckin' catchy.  I guess you'd just call it simple, dumb garage pop, and that's not intended as an insult at all.  It's probably the lyrical content but my first impression was this reminded me a little of Mean Jeans minus the heavy Ramones influence, or maybe Coconut Coolouts minus band members wearing banana suits.  The album starts off with an Enigma sample and then covers 17 songs in a little over 27 minutes - there is no fucking around here, except that it is all the musical equivalent to fucking around.  More specifically, this sounds like an afternoon drunk in someone's backyard, maybe playing some horseshoes and firing up the barbeque, possibly passing out on the couch by eight o'clock.  I dig it.   

You can download the album on the cheap here.  I think Goner has it too.  Get it.  

Liars - WIXIW (Mute, 2012)

Liars
WIXIW
Mute
2012

Rating: 7 terminal cancers out of 10

Somehow Liars have transformed into a completely different band and I don't hate them for it.  This is usually not the case.  They've seemingly aboned their harsh, confrontational sound and replaced it with laid-back "darkwave" techno something-or-another.  I have no idea what the hell "darkwave" is, it just seems like a word that would describe what Liars are doing...like a music score for a film about a creepy serial killer. I guess what I'm getting at is despite a shift in instrumentation, the vibe and lyrics of their songs are still taking the same, ominous course.  To be perfectly honest, this sort of music is usually doesn't shine my turtle shell, but I'm guessing my history with this band has kept me just interested enough to get hooked. 

As a side note, I can attest that despite a move towards more keyboard and electronics and away from the typical band arrangements, a recent viewing of their live show proves they will still completely rock your ass off. 

Moonface (With Siinai) - Heartbreaking Bravery (Jagjaguwar, 2012)

Moonface (With Siinai)
Heartbreaking Bravery
Jagjaguwar
2012

Rating: 8 fig newtons out of 10

For those unaware, Moonface = Spence Krug from Wolf Parade & Sunset Rubdown.  I absolutely loved the debut full-length "Organ Music Not Vibraphone Like I'd Hoped," so I was quite looking forward to how that would be followed up.  That debut was pretty much just keyboards, drum machine, and Krug's voice, so color me quite surprised when from the first note this record is chock full of real percussion, guitar, and other organic instrumentation.  It turns out Krug went to Finland and recorded the album with the band Siinai, some folks he knew from his Wolf Parade days.  This combination really gave the record a fuller, more robust sound than you'd typically expect out of Moonface, based on previous output.  Honestly, it feels like an entirely new band if not for Krug's voice.  The previous record was five epic tracks of organ noodling and "out there" lyrics; well, the lyrics are still pretty zonked but this album doubles the track length and outside of one song ("Headed for the Door"), drastically cuts down on the song run times.  It's almost...a pop record.  A pop record wrapped inside of a kraut/synth/drone envelope.  The third track "Shitty City" was an instant favorite, but nothing here disappoints.   

If you're a fan of Krug's work, it would be hard to imagine not liking this.  No matter how different the music gets, it's all held together by that instantly recognizable voice of his.  This will be on my best records of the year least, I can say this with no hesitation.