The Private Sea – Prelude

Sometimes, less is better and sometimes, an EP is the best way to go. This is the case with The Private Sea’s debut album, Prelude. Although this is a crisp 33-minute, ten-song album, it feels jumbled and extensive—in terms of quality.

The first three songs do their job in hooking you in; they’re catchy, fast-paced, all around three minutes and there is some unmistakable ability here. “The Stars Say Hello” starts the album off with a meticulous guitar and precision drumming; the male and female singers are intertwined as one, into the song’s overall tone. The next song, “Judas Kisses,” features a chugging guitar reminiscent of Cobain’s days and the chord progression allows the song to breathe and come to life. Once you get to “We Were Only Looking at the Shadows of the Flame” you are left with a promising feeling. They follow the same technique that made the first two songs successful but yet, they don’t sound repetitive. The harmony is layered properly and efficiently, the drumming is energetic and active and it just kind of hangs back, underneath the mix.

Then there is an apparent shift in style that some may see as impressive, while others are wishing for more of the same—this reviewer is part of the latter category. After a trio of songs that are poppy, catchy, hook-laden and vivid, you get a batch of songs that are indolent, muddy, repetitive and droning. The band attempts a sort of shoegaze rock that doesn’t work too well in the overall scope of the album. “Arrow to the Sun” is redundant and prolonged with its warbling instrumentation and “Lucifer” is more of the same. The guitar and other instruments that breathed in the first three songs are suffocated and covered up with reverb — but I guess that’s what shoegaze is huh?

Then there are a few songs where they try to combine these two elements of shoegaze drone and pop/rock. “Running” ends up sounding a bit varied and although the bells add a nice change of pace, the female vocals sound hackneyed and insipid.

By the time that that the album ends, you are left with mixed feelings. And to top things off, the closer is one heck of a song! An acoustic guitar and quite, gentle vocals drive it towards a delightful, understated ending. This is the only song on the album that sounds like it, where the vocals are actually on top of the mix rather than hidden and it works very nicely. It’s gripping, melodic and impressive—a great closing song.

Ultimately, there is a lot to grow and learn from here—this isn’t to say that the quintet doesn’t have the makings of a solid band. A lot of acts that have already “made it” don’t even sound this good. There are a lot of ideas on here, some that work, some that don’t, and even though they have some things to work on, there is a lot to be proud of as well. (With a self-released album, this is as “indie” as it gets, so if you go to their website you can order this album.)

The Frail – Count On This EP

With more than just a nod to The Postal Service, The Frail aspire to blend synth-based electronic dance music with bubbly, commercial-leaning electro-pop. The four tracks on the Count On This EP accomplish this with varying degrees of success, peaking with some highlights that fall just short of their target.

The San Francisco based duo of Daniel Lannon and Kevin Durr produce all of their Postal Service-influenced sounds, including jittery disco beats, swirling synth washes and playful electronic gurgles, with only keyboards and samples. But The Postal Service comparisons don’t stop with the music. While vocalist Lannon sounds similar to Ben Gibbard (The Postal Service, Death Cab for Cutie), he delivers a sub-par mimicking of Gibbard’s dynamic inflections and instead accents his voice using a vocoder. And with mundane lyrics in place of Gibbard’s bittersweet introspections, these tracks lack punch and seem like a calculated stab at riding the coattails of a more successful band.

Even still, opener “Count On This” and closer “Floated Away”, while sounding the most like The Postal Service, happen to be the best tracks on the disc. They are upbeat, peppy and charmingly entertaining. But the two middle tracks are only tolerably pleasant. The bland, cookie-cutter electro-pop of “Addicted” and “Who Am I?” include no surprises, nothing edgy and therefore nothing memorable.

The Frail are obviously inspired by some decent bands and are capable musicians, but they seem to lack the ability to channel these influences into something stylistically similar yet uniquely fresh. The outcome is an EP of playful electro-pop tunes that provide a pleasant enough listening experience but will probably drop off your playlist rather quickly.

The Soda Pop Kids – Teen Bop Dream

If you haven’t gotten your soda pop kick today head on down to the soda shop of anachronism. In this soda shop, lyrical and musical styles and attitudes from 50′s doo-wop to 70′s pub rock combine in a frothy delight sure to leave you dying for another sip of that deliciously tooth decaying goodness. A pinch of punk, a little pop and a fair smattering of good old-fashioned doo wop combine to create an inventive musical formula that will get your feet boppin’ at the soda shop hop. The group fuses musical styles, fashions and attitudes from all the previous mentioned genres to create an enjoyable time-warp that’s upbeat and firmly based in the foundations of rock and roll.

Despite songs and subject matter emanating from the doo wop style, musically the band sounds more like the pop inspired punk of Nick Lowe or Wreckless Eric. Songs from arcades, soda shops and close encounters form their lyrical content. Jonny P., vocalist, positively squeals on “Terrestrial Twist” in which Jonny and the boys are interested in the finer points of twisting and shaking by the inhabitant of the flying saucer he’s abducted by.

The guys are outrageous and over the top in the genre bending manner of The Clash. The tempo shows yet again in “Another Cigarette Ends,” a sweet little ditty rife with oohs, aahs and a half-spoken verse. The song builds up to a beautiful crescendo in the chorus.

“Too Pretty” begins with a 70′s soft rock feel, electric piano and tight vocal harmonies. All the songs are seething with an urgency and a hot bubblegum sensuality.

On “Six Gun Senorita” and “Ballad of Ranch Hand Riviera,” the group borrows from the theatrical pastiche of the spaghetti western. Both songs and many other tracks on the piece are really nice ballads as well as enjoyable music. The album’s a must for anyone who can’t get Wreckless Eric’s “Whole Wide World” out of their head once they hear it mentioned.

Most Valuable Mono – Friend Opportunity single

This CD single, Friend Opportunity, follows from Most Valuable Mono’s other “white-label” CDs and EPs. What this seems to mean is that MVM does the compositions, recordings, and pressings himself, or has the tracks released by small labels and put on compilations. And “himself” refers to Gavin Savage, the sole member of the band.

The two songs on the single show MVM to be working the moody territory of the slowest Mogwai tracks. Remember the landmark “Helps Both Ways” from Mogwai’s Come On Die Young album? That’s a fair starting point for MVM’s “Youth Noise,” with its leaden beat and its voice samples. Both tracks on Friend Opportunity have dry, Albini-type drums for rhythm, but on “Friend Opportunity” it’s acoustic drums, like Mogwai.

Also on “Friend Opportunity” the guitars echo slowly as they fill up the space with lonely sounding notes. The repetitive bass anchors the sound, unwaveringly consistent and moody. Creeping into “Friend Opportunity” is a distorted guitar that climbs into the mix slowly and disappears abruptly, never reaching the GYBE type of cacophony typical of the genre.

“Youth Noise” has a repeating guitar feature redolent with the strains of Come On Die Young. The track has quiet background keyboard chords to reinforce the mood.

MVM, or Gavin, has done time in a band called Kid Robot and has remixed earlier songs for some of his performances. He’s also doing some soundtrack work. And he’s 19 years old. It will be interesting to see how his work develops because he seems to be off to an interesting, if not completely original (yet), start.

Pig Destroyer – Phantom Limb

I’ve been following Pig Destroyer since I first heard their side of a split 7″ with Orchid way back in 1998. They are one of the fastest bands with an actual human drummer that I’ve ever heard. Over the last decade they’ve cranked out a number of significant albums, crucial to any fan of grindcore’s blistering tempos and unforgiving blast. Sharing members with Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Pig Destroyer sounds like an only slightly slower version of that band without sacrificing any of the intensity or energy that propelled ANb to greatness. Although I count myself among a legion of diehard fans, I’ve never felt that Pig Destroyer fully lived up to my lofty expectations until now. I blame myself for having ridiculously high standards when it comes to grindcore, but when it’s done right it can be acutely effective.

To say that Phantom Limb is by far the best Pig Destroyer album to date would be an understatement. Not only does it fulfill that position, but it’s also one of the best grindcore records I’ve ever heard. The band sets the bar way fucking high on this one. They take all of the speed and ferocity of previous records but throw in some heavy grooving riffs ala Pantera circa Vulgar Display of Power. “Rotten Yellow” might be one of the best openers on a metal album this decade, ranking alongside such greats as Converge’s “Concubine” and High On Fire’s “Devilution.” In less than two minutes, the band executes a series of technical riffs only to pile drive it into the ground with a crushing breakdown near the end. On the opposite end of the album, the closer is a hidden track comprised of chirping crickets and the distant sound of a country tune. In between these poles the band wrings out heavy grooves on “Loathsome” and “Lesser Animal” while packing in dense chunks of grade A grind on “Deathtripper” and “Though Crime Spree.” The pinnacle of Phantom Limb is arguably “Heathen Temple” though. It starts out forcing a fast-as-fuck riff down your throat and then at the 2:33 mark it punches you in the gut with the album’s most effective riff, a riff so “catchy” that Pig Destroyer only gives us a brief glimpse into its power before it’s over.

My single reservation with totally praising Pig Destroyer has always been the lyrics. J.R. Hayes has often been championed for writing some of the best lyrics in the grindcore genre. At first glance the lyrics seem lofty and intelligent, but they lack the over-the-top power of typically offensive anthems like Slayer’s “Angel of Death” or “Jesus Saves” (or any songs by Scott Hull’s former band, Anal Cunt, which are pretty much known only for being offensive) by occasionally veering too close to the usual Victory Records “we hate girls, they’re all evil and deserve to die” bro-core, replacing overtly offensive language with slightly more subversive and dare I say it “emo” lyrics that echo those same sentiments only presented in a generally indistinguishable manner. This is a small complaint in light of my awareness that there is actually a band called Violence Against Feminist Cunts whose album art is littered with caricatures of women being raped. Add to that Scott Hull’s own admission that most of the offensive nature of the band’s lyrics is purposefully tongue-in-cheek. None of this will detract grindcore fans from enjoying the album I’m sure, but this is my soapbox to stand on concerning all aspects of the album so it would be remiss of me not to address it.

Pig Destroyer has nonetheless created a masterpiece of fear-inducing metallic grind. Phantom Limb is a hodgepodge of ripping anthems, mid-tempo riffing, and an overall testament to the power that metal can still have. With so many bands out there vying for attention along with the splintering of metal into countless genres all espousing different thoughts on their idea of purity versus stagnancy, it can be a daunting task to assign relevance to one album without an immediate backlash. SunnO))) having an (un)envious amount of attention paid to them in a genre where that is generally looked upon with distrust is the best example. It created a small backlash, as if having a wider audience made their work somehow less relevant. This year the spotlight is on Pig Destroyer. The only question now is how they’ll follow this one.

Adrian Orange & Her Band – Adrian Orange & Her Band

While no one was looking, Phil Elverum protege Adrian Orange released some damn fine music under the name Thanksgiving. His songwriting was in the same vein of Elverum’s and other K Recs alums, but he wasn’t quite ready to be put alongside Phil, Calvin, and Mirah just yet. Maybe the world wasn’t ready for Orange, but more likely, Orange wasn’t ready for the world.

Then something wonderful happened. Bitches Is Lord was released under the name Adrian Orange and completely blew all his previous material out of the water. Orange’s warm guitar, awkward voice, and beautiful lyrics opened a few eyes and ears, and with good cause. Alongside Elverum’s typically amazing production, Orange became one of the most enjoyable songwriters around, and at a time when music is saturated with Will Oldham and Elliot Smith clones, he also became one of the more distinctive voices.

So naturally, after an album like that, the momentum should probably carry to this new album, so why did it only arrive with a whimper? Well, there is a good reason. Adrian Orange & Her Band’s new self-titled is described as “rogue West African prison-funk” by K Recs. I know the label is renowned for being different, experimental, and even a little pretentious, but if you’d like to hear Adrian Orange keep improving on the music you may have come to enjoy, you’re not going to do backflips for “rouge West African prison-funk.” Even I was afraid to crack this one open.

Once you finally hear Adrian Orange & Her Band, though, you realize all this labeling nonsense is really pretty absurd. Sure, the first thing you hear on “Window (Mirror) Shadow” is Latin inspired drums and horns, but once Orange’s voice comes in, you realize that for all the description, the heart of this album still lies in Orange’s excellent songwriting. Although it may be peppered with an exotic flavor, the things that really make Orange enjoyable are still there.

Take “Interdependance Dance,” for example…it may start with similar drums and horns as the first song, but the band mostly falls into a supporting role for the verses, which are centered by a simple piano chord structure and Orange’s voice. The band comes back in the verses, but Orange is still the main attraction. Standout “Fire Dream” sounds like it could’ve been written and performed by Elverum himself on a Microphones album. “A Flower’s Is Mine” is a little jazzier, but even on songs like that, the horns and drums compliment Orange nicely.

This album, like most others, isn’t without its missteps (the Latin jazz jam “You’re My Home” being chief among them), but it’s still a developing songwriter writing solid songs. Even if it is on the experimental side, nothing here sounds forced or out of place, Elverum’s production is still on point, and Orange’s voice and lyrics are still impressive.

So K Records can get a little out of hand, but as I mentioned, they’re a label with a reputation for some pretense. The overzealous description of this album is definitely a play towards that side of the label, but if you really take that to heart, you’re missing out on some good music here. Give Orange & Her Band a chance and you won’t be disappointed.

Salim Nourallah – Snowing In My Heart

Television teen drama executives listen up. Say those poor angst high schoolers Caitlyn and Bryce are just about to do it for the first time in the back seat of Bryce’s new Mercedes and you need that certain song to set the mood. Are those Elliott Smith or Badly Drawn Boy royalties too much for you to pay? Then look no further than Texan troubadour Salim Nourallah, who crafts the same bedroom bred Beatles influenced indie rock that you’re looking for!

Four albums in, Nourallah knows his way around well crafted pop songs with just the right amount of downtrodden-ness to make them “lo-fi,” a term so far removed from what it actually means it’s now a genre. Snowing In My Heart is an album of extremes with no chance of meeting in the middle. Happy and sad, confident and unsure, these are the points the album swing between. And while it’s gorgeous sounding all the same, it ends up at being as predictable as something on the CW.

The song titles alone are enough to show the parallels of mood that’s being created. On one hand Nourallah is full of cautious optimism (“Hang On,“ “Don’t Be Afraid”) and on the other hand full of impending doom (“The Terror,” “The Wicked Are Winning.”) Musically the songs are brash rockers such as “It’s Okay To Be Sad” or gentle numbers ready to be blown over by a puff of wind, like “I Miss You (So Come Back.”) Even the lyrics, delivered in a Conor Oberst meets Jeff Tweedy nervous rasp, border on the basic. Old rock song clichés are not exempt; if you need reassurance however we are told that no one knows what you have until it’s gone and that “It’s Lonely When You’re Alone” Who knew?

The Beatles by way of the many they’ve influenced lurk behind every song on Snowing. Opening track “Hang On” is full of tremolo guitar and McCartney bass while “The Wicked Are Winning” are the Fab 4 as channeled through Wilco circa summerteeth. “Don’t Be Afraid” is AM Wilco which means just about every definition of alt-country you can think of. Even the sounds of Coldplay make an appearance on “Days Disappear” and they’ve ripped off just about everyone.

Despite the drawbacks of sounding too much like your influences, using every musical instrument at your disposal and quoting heavily from the Big Book Of Rock Lyrics, Nourallah does a good job at piecing it all together. It’s a big sounding album full of introspection and a great deal of craft went into creating it. Unfortunately this album has been made many times before.

Terror – Rhythm Amongst the Chaos EP

Terror needs little introduction. They’ve been the heavy hardcore champions for the past five years. This EP, Rhythm Amongst the Chaos, keeps the bar high. The title track is a blistering ode to hardcore music with lively gangs, feedback ringing for miles, and a chugging two-step. The molasses breakdown in “Disconnected” is straight up evil. Scott Vogel’s lyrics speak the same harsh reality from his days in Buried Alive. “You can steal my words / say what I say / but from you they’re empty.” Four new songs and one Breakdown cover capping it off. So hard. Take this to the gym and try not to tackle people off treadmills.

The Twilight Sad – Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters

Emotion is something that is complex, personal and unique to each and every person. Some people wear their emotion on their sleeve; others mask it behind a façade of trepidation. It can usually be heard (by the sound, tone, inflection, volume of one’s voice) but it can’t genuinely be seen as effortlessly. So, we have music and some artists/bands infuse their music with everything inside of them. They pour their heart out and with it, their emotions, into a single work of art. It can aid in creating gorgeous masterpieces like Beck’s Sea Change or maybe just one song, such as Trent Reznor’s evocative, brooding, “Something I Can Never Have.” When you can create music to healthily express your emotions, ah, well it’s a beautiful thing.

So, with all of that in mind, we get The Twilight Sad’s debut album, Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters. This oozes with emotion, flows like a river, thunders like a tidal wave, explodes like a bomb, shoots out like a firecracker — it’s drenched with and pouring emotion all over. The songs are overflowing with poignant, distressing lyrics covering topics like broken families and homes, desolation, solitude, seclusion, resentment and loss. They do this by crafting sonic landscapes of the music; towering crescendos that grow into climactic moments where you can just “feel it,” fortepianos that express sudden demise and frequent sforzandos.

The Twilight Sad is a four-piece band and their lead-singer, James Alexander Graham, sings in a Scottish, baritone drawl. As Jen from Stratosphere wrote earlier, when she reviewed their eponymous EP, “Graham’s reminisces and recriminations are expressively wrapped in his pronounced Scottish accent, giving rise to an emotionally crippled and claustrophobic feeling – of things not spoken, of saying too much, of family secrets and repressed emotions.” And that is all presented here again as the album features nine total songs, three of them copied and pasted from the EP to this debut LP.

The opener, “Cold Days from the Birdhouse” starts off with a quite build of stomping piano, some reverb and a gentle guitar melody. Graham’s voice tenderly enters the mix and the magic goes on from here. The song grows into a lush, diverse scope of heightened proportions; it hits you straight in the face with an emotional jolt of pure strength. It ends the same way it began, with the piano and reverb peacefully closing it out.

Every song has a highlight and every song is a gem—every single one. There is the explosion in “That Summer, at Home I Had Become the Invisible Boy” that hits as hard as it hurts, the triple meter of “Talking with Fireworks/Here, it Never Snowed” that very simply, starts off with a fittingly, firework of music that is both crushing and breathtaking, and then the miserable, heart aching, “I’m Taking the Train Home” where Graham practically yells out the lyrics. Everything on here works and everything on here is dazzling.

It’s a remarkable debut by a tremendous quartet. Not only does it have the raw emotion, but also the intense, glorious musicianship, absorbing hooks and grandiose arrangements to leave you utterly breathless, drained and wanting more. Where they go from here, who knows? But if this is just a taste of better and bigger things to come, then I await them, eagerly and attentively.

Pechblende – Collapse

Pechblende could have been your typical 3-note hardcore/punk band, but thanks to their Neurosis-like breakdowns and introductions they add just enough to turn the simple into quite nearly epic. In fact, their paltry 8 song set on Collapse is all the more stretched thanks to their interesting use of grandiose parts, like the one found in the introduction to “Retain”. I swear I thought I was listening to a Pelican record. Then after such long introductions they kick into the heart of what distinguishes them from the latter mentioned bands. Their lightning fast 2/4 beats and harsh vocal delivery is reminiscent of bands like Strike Anywhere or earlier hardcore mainstays F-Minus. This stuff is fast, raw and in your face.

Songs like “Consent” and the title track don’t even surpass the 2:30 mark. “Dogma” and “Cars Make Shadows” showcase much what the band is all about the best. They are the longer tracks and they feel like their most accomplished in terms of changing from a dark doom-like sound to the fast hardcore punk that they do so well. The fillers like “Taepodong” 1 and 2 could have been omitted but they showcase some of the best musicianship the band has to offer.

As far as production value is concerned, I do appreciate the raw assault from the vocals and guitar. My only concern is that the vocals are often drowned out by the volume of the rest of the instruments. Letting Bergeron out more would improve their overall sound immensely.

I enjoyed this album quite a bit, but after my second listen I couldn’t help but realize that all the songs sound a little too similar. They are one of the best bands at changing up styles seamlessly and for that I applaud them, but how many slow intros into fast 2/4 punk rock beats can we take before it gets a little stale? Again I did enjoy Collapse but this band has massive potential to do so much more.

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