Lightships - Fear and Doubt (Geographic, 2012)

Lightships
Fear and Doubt
Geographic
2012

Rating: 7 broken spokes out of 10

I'm not sure I knew Lightships was the solo project of Teenage Fanclub's Gerald Love when I found this EP online.  If I did know it, my brain has since purged itself of this information.  But even coming in not knowing jack, any longtime supporter of the Fannies (one of my all-time favorite bands) knew exactly what was going on as soon as the unmistakeable vocals of Love kicked in on the first track "Fear and Doubt."  Also featuring members of the Pastels and Belle & Sebastian, this music is pretty goddamn twee and there ain't a thing wrong with that.  All four songs on this short player are quite enjoyable, and now I need to seek out the band's full-length that also came out in 2012.  Hopefully Love is also saving some of these great songs for a future Teenage Fanclub record as well. 

Pinback - Information Retrieved (Temporary Residence, 2012)

Pinback
Information Retrieved
Temporary Residence
2012

Rating: 6 Miami nightclubs out of 10

I have absolutely nothing of note to say about this Pinback album.  It pretty much sounds like every other Pinback album, a statement that can be seen as a good or a bad thing depending on your opinion of Pinback. You could do worse.

Two Gallants - The Bloom and the Blight (ATO, 2012)

Two Gallants
The Bloom and the Blight
ATO
2012

Rating: 6.5 bug collections out of 10

It feels like it's been a long time since I've paid much attention to the Two Gallants.  I don't mean that to sound as bad as it does, it's just when I used to live in SF I saw them play live quite a few times and listened to their records frequently, and then for whatever reason when I moved back to the East Coast they sorta dropped off my radar.  

In listening to "The Bloom and the Blight," the first album of theirs I've really paid attention to since "The Throes," this almost sounds like a different band.  Not that that should be surprising nearly a decade later, but I was surprised at how upbeat and rockin' this new record is.  Their older material felt so intimate and delicate, but these tracks are thick and robust like a television advertisement for spaghetti sauce.  The first three songs are all rollicking affairs, and you don't get back to the old alt-folk version of the band until the fourth track "Broken Eyes," and then the tempos shift intermittently for the rest of the record.  

I'm really not sure what to think of this new direction...it's an enjoyable record to be sure, but in some ways a little off-putting to someone like me who doesn't handle change well when bands go in different directions.  I'm totally guessing but I bet this album really translates well live, probably even better than in the recordings.  Guess I'll just have to see them live again and verify this. 

The Sea and Cake - Runner (Thrill Jockey, 2012)

The Sea and Cake
Runner
Thrill Jockey
2012

Rating: 7.5 jump shots out of 10

The Sea and Cake!  They might keep sorta releasing the same record over and over and over, but fuck if they don't have that indie-jazz-pop sound of theirs dialed down to a science.  A really awesome sounding science. The album kicks off with the upbeat "On and On" and it only gets better from there.  According to the label website the band took a different approach to recording this record - Sam Prekop wrote the songs on a synth, then sent the tracks out to the rest of the band to be fleshed out... and while this may sound neat, to my ears it just sounds like another in a long line of very enjoyable Sea and Cake records.  For long-time fans picking this up should be a no-brainer.  Looking for a place to start with this iconic Chicago group?  "The Biz" would be my first choice, but not a damn thing wrong with starting right here.

Boomgates - Double Natural (Bedroom Suck, 2012)

Boomgates
Double Natural
Bedroom Suck
2012

Rating: 6.5 book ends out of 10

If you're like me, you're listening to or interested about this Boomgates record because it features a member of the super great Eddy Current Suppression Ring.  Specifically, the two bands share the same singer, so you can guess exactly where the comparisons are going to go when trying to review Boomgates in the half-assed fashion that is typical from me.  This group doesn't have the Gang of Four-terseness or Television-influenced guitar work of Eddy Current.  This is a little poppier and janglier, sounding more akin to the Kiwi pop of the early eighties than anything else.  Think of Boomgates as a Clean cover band, only with original songs.  Then again if they (or anyone) chose the throw in a "Tally Ho" cover, no one would ever complain.   

Jason Lytle - Dept. of Disappearance (Anti, 2012)

Jason Lytle
Dept. of Disappearance
Anti
2012

Rating: 8 firestarters out of 10

The differences between those final Grandaddy albums and the pair of solo albums Jason Lytle has released are really in name only.  I mean no slight to the rest of the members of Grandaddy, but Lytle seemed to be such a decisive force over their sound and direction that only the superest of super Grandaddy fans could probably tell a difference here.  Lots of synths and keyboards make up the bulk of the music here as in all Lytle-related recordings, with a simple drum backbone, a week but of guitar strumming and Lytle's easily-identifiable vocals.  I read somewhere that this album (and really, any of his albums) sounds like a late night by yourself - introspective and maybe a little lonely.  Being an only child, I like and am very comfortable with being by yourself, and maybe that's why his music speaks so well to me.  

Mono - For My Parents (Temporary Residence, 2012)

Mono
For My Parents
Temporary Residence
2012

Rating: 7.5 shock troops out of 10

As with most instrumental post-rock bands of this nature, I'm kind of at a loss as to what to say about this new Mono record "For My Parents," especially to those already familiar with their work.  When you play the sort of bombastic music these Japanese rockers have been churning out on multiple albums for the past decade or longer, it's kinda hard to differentiate from one set of the music to the next.  It's all immaculately played, beautiful stuff.  My heart will always rate the first record of theirs I listened to a lot - "One Step More and You Die" - as their finest work, but there is no reason someone couldn't feel the same way about this newest release.  I would guess the only real difference is the orchestral strings backing most of the songs, and the level of quiet-loud-quiet bombast that was their early hallmark seems to have been taken down a notch.  I think that means the music is prettier and less aggressive, or something along those lines.  If Explosions in the Sky are the soundtrack to slow-motion Texas football, Mono feels like the score to a Kurosawa samurai picture (and if that seems racist, I mean it be more geography-ist).

Jehosaphat Blow - Natural High For Low People (Cold Slice, 2012)

Jehosaphat Blow

Natural High For Low People

Cold Slice

2012

Rating: 6.5 containers of cumin out of 10

I got an email from Jehosaphat Blow to check out his music, a one-man band thing out of Chicago.  There was some mention of it sounding like Mark Sultan which is all it took to get me to listen.  Turns out that was a most fair assessment of this album - dirty, lo-fi one-man garage stomp with some slight soul vibes to add color.  The songs are all pretty catchy - my juvenile side especially liked "She Doesn't Give A Fuck".  At 12 songs in barely over 25 minutes, this is a quick listen and seemingly a good introduction to Jehoaphat Blow...and hell, I think if you go his Facebook page (linked above) he even points folks to free downloads of this album. 

Ty Segall Band - Slaughterhouse (In The Red, 2012)

Ty Segall Band
Slaughterhouse
In The Red
2012

Rating: 7.5 jello shots out of 10

I've completely given up on trying to keep up with all of the Ty Segall releases...his transformation into the garage pop version of Robert Pollard is seemingly complete.  But there is something a little different with "Slaughterhouse" - this record is credited to "Ty Segall Band," denoting a slight difference from his typical output over the last couple of years.  He apparently made this album with his touring band, and where the bulk of his recent material is a little more straight-forward pop, this is a guitar-heavy garage rock showdown.  It has a great raw/Memphis/Goner feel, like a record the kids of the Oblivians might make, with a heavy dose of dirty Detroit rock leanings (MC5, Stooges et al).  The album features ten great bursts of maniacal garage, and ten minute closer of noise that doesn't do much for me but maybe some feedback nuts will take pleasure in.  I've been so washed out on Segall releases it would have been easy to ignore this, and maybe his "real" fans will write this off as an anomoly not befitting his current direction, but this is the Segall I wanna hear more about. 

Animal Collective - Centipede Hz (Domino, 2012)

Animal Collective
Centipede Hz
Domino
2012

Rating: 5.5 crying guitars out of 10

So, a new Animal Collective record...it feels like there has been zero buzz about this, which corresponds exactly with my feelings going in.  I'm listening to it as I type this review, and it's a plenty fine record, probably as good as anything they have released...but I find I just don't really care.  Maybe the music portion of my brain feels like it doesn't need any new Animal Collective songs in there? God knows I listened to "Strawberry Jam" enough for the output of ten bands, and maybe that was all I really needed out of these guys.  Cause when I listen to "Centipede Hz", I can't think of a single bad thing to say about it.  The songs are catchy, they create that typical wall of eclectic sound they are known for, and it certainly seems like the sort of record most of their fans should be happy with.  Just not this one, for reasons I'm unsure of. 

Moon Duo - Circles (Sacred Bones, 2012)

Moon Duo
Circles
Sacred Bones
2012

Rating: 6 bloody flashlights out of 10

Moon Duo is best known as the side project of Wooden Shjips' Ripley Johnson, though at this point this duo may have gained more coverage/attention than his "main" gig.  Like their previous records the guitar looms front and present, heavy in that Spacemen 3/My Bloody Valentine sort of way; unlike those records, the songs are almost "power pop" in their construction - mostly gone is the krautrock vibe that dominated before, replaced by a more straight-forward shoegaze sound.  It's by no means bad music, but even after multiple listens I found it never really stuck to my bones.  I'm sure they're still just as great live as always, but I found myself thinking more fondly of their older records while "Circles" was playing. 

Band of Horses - Mirage Rock (Columbia, 2012)

Band of Horses
Mirage Rock
Columbia
2012

Rating: 2.5 heaps of sticks out of 10

I'm sitting in a hotel at a Mexico beach so I'm going to keep this short (or at least shorter than my already short ramblings) - this new record b Band of Horses is overproduced and quite boring.  Does it makes me a bad reviewer to say I came to this decision after listening to only four songs?  Probably.  Do I really give a shit?  Nope.  Life is too short to listen to this any more. 

The Fresh and Onlys - Long Slow Dance (Mexican Summer, 2012)

The Fresh and Onlys
Long Slow Dance
Mexican Summer
2012

Rating: 6 ice baths out of 10

I'm not sure if it was a wrong turn taken at Albuquerque or what, but at some point The Fresh and Onlys went full eighties.  And I don't mean a modern band trying to sound like the eighties, I mean they sound like a band actually from that time whose lost 1986 recordings only recently resurfaced.  It almost sounds like a collage of popular "Alternative" bands from that era - and I'm not just talking big-name acts like the Cure, I also hear bits and pieces of Hoodoo Gurus, Midnight Oil, and Aztec Camera.  On top of that, the recording is way more polished than anything else they've released, a fact that can be viewed as either good or bad probably depending on how you felt about their early albums.  

The record isn't bad but I'm not sold on this new version of the band.  Maybe it just reminds me of all the bargain cassettes I used to buy at Roses as a kid, anything with a cool cover or an interesting name, and so often it was mediocre at best.  I can't imagine I'll be getting an urge to listen to this one too often.  Might be time to dig out some old Aztec Camera records though. 

Ana Never - Small Years (Fluttery, 2012)

Ana Never

Small Years

Fluttery

2012

Rating: 6 basement game rooms out of 10

So apparently Ana Never is from Serbia, and as far as I know I've never listened to a band from Serbia in my nearly four decades on this planet.  I'm not sure why anyone needs to know this, but there it is.  This showed up in my inbox and although the name made me think it might be some Ani Difranco-type jittery lady folk, I decided to listen to it anyways.  Turns out it's instrumental post-rock or whatever the hell you wanna call it.  With four songs and a playing time of 75 minutes, it both sounds and feels a shitload like Godspeed You! Black Emperor, with just a touch of Dirty Three.  These guys keep it a lot more melodic and atmospheric and aren't as prone to delve into experimental noise making as GY!BE, but the comparison still holds.  That said, it's still fine music...it may not make a huge impression or start some groundbreaking trend, but it's plenty enjoyable.  

Of Montreal - Daughter of Cloud (Polyvinyl, 2012)

Of Montreal
Daughter of Cloud
Polyvinyl
2012

Rating: 4 pairs of cargo shorts out of 10

More indie rock disco from Of Montreal.  This is a compilation of random tracks recorded from 2007 until present day, which seems to coincide pretty well with their morphing into a white funk band.  As I've not been particularly interested in this turn the group made I'm not sure why I even bothered to listen to this, I guess old habits die hard.  But if you like what they have become, you'll probably like this.  Not for me though.  Not worth writing much else either.