Recently in CD reviews Category

Some things that have recently crossed my desk that I probably won't get around to reviewing for the print edition:

Secondhand Serenade
Hear Me Now (Glassnote Records)




Sweeping, weepy, wimpy emo that makes the Plain White T's sound like Motorhead. It also makes me feel like I should shut my door--it would be very embarrassing if any of my co-workers caught me listening to this.

Street Sweeper Social Club
Ghetto Blaster (Cooking Vinyl)



The second release from the rap/rock group led by ex-Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello and MC Boots Riley from Bay Area hip-hop duo the Coup. I actually think Morello's a great guitar player, but I've never had much room in my life for RATM. This is not good. Covers of L.L. Cool J's "Mama Said Knock You Out" and M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" (which is actually a sort of half-cover of the Clash's "Straight to Hell") are not good. I think it's entirely possible that some fusion of rap and rock could work; there's really no good reason that it can't. But it hasn't happened so far.

Magic Kids
Memphis (True Panther)



These guys are playing at Disc Exchange on Aug. 25, the day after their debut Memphis is released, as part of their national record-store tour. Bright, shiny not-quite-power pop, it's cute and almost charming, but ultimately the Beatles/Beach Boys harmonies and jangly guitars make me feel like I'm in preschool.  

In her feature last week on the Florida chillwave producer MillionYoung, aka Mike Diaz, who's working with the Knoxville-based music label Arcade Sound Ltd., Carey Hodges attributed much of Diaz's burgeoning success to the attention of Pitchfork. The website reviewed Diaz' self-released MillionYoung album, Sunndreamm, last year, and described it as "exactly what chillwave produced a stone's throw from South Beach ought to sound like."

Today Zach Kelly gives Diaz's Arcade Sound debut, the EP Be So True, a 7.6. Kelly writes:

"The music here sounds more synthetic than most current bedroom electronic projects, and Diaz reconfigures aqueous tones with an impressive array of rhythmic accents to give his productions momentum. But it's Diaz's vocals that lend a much-needed organic element. Though it's sometimes difficult to locate exactly what Diaz might be saying, since he often chops and pitch-shifts his already distant-sounding voice much like Washed Out's Ernest Greene does, lyrical sentiments take a backseat as his words melt into the lushness of his productions, often evoking a mood or emotion with a simple vocal intonation."

A bunch of MP contributors listed their favorite albums of the year here. Feel free to argue.

I've only heard 10 of the 24 discs on the list--at least a few (Oneida, Nels Cline, Gay Witch Abortion, Mastodon, and Baroness) might have been on my ballot if someone else hadn't picked them. Other contenders for me:

Converge, Axe to Fall
Miranda Lambert, Revolution
Liturgy, Renihilation
Jim O'Rourke, The Visitor
Raekwon, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II
Wolves in the Throne Room, Black Cascade
Yob, The Great Cessation
The xx, xx

Best thing that happened to me today? This album came in the mail.

A cursory listen reveals that it sounds just like you'd think it does. 

 

Since we didn't get any coverage of Dan Deacon's upcoming show in this week's paper (blame his publicist, not us), here's a review of his new album:



Dan Deacon
Bromst (Carpark Records)
When Baltimore's weirdo-du-jour Dan Deacon suggested last year that the followup to his 2007 breakthrough Spiderman of the Rings would be a notably darker affair, his fans (including more than a few Knoxvillians, thanks to his frequent stops at Pilot Light) were surely left curious. What could "dark" mean coming from a guy whose maximalist electro-spaz, as occasionally disturbing as it can be, is best described as nothing short of giddy?
He later clarified his meaning somewhat, but Bromst speaks just as well for itself: There's not a whole lot of darkness, but from opener "Build Voice" on it's apparent that Deacon has put much more of himself into his work this time around, and the result is a disarmingly affecting electronic pop record. Where Spiderman often felt like a collection of half-songs and silly sound art packed around best-of-the-year barnstormer "Wham City," Bromst works much better as an album thanks to its relative emphasis on composition. There's still some sketchwork, and pieces that work better by themselves (like rubbery live favorite "Woof Woof"), but for the most part Deacon has stepped up both his sonics and his songs, often in tandem; the quiet moments (parts of Bromst recall an ADHD-afflicted Múm) marry together well with his trademark Toontown coke-rave soundtracks, thanks to an increasingly organic knack for tension and release, and his meticulously double-stuffed aesthetic pushes his hooks to places no sane man would dare.
There are portions of Bromst where Deacon repeats himself--his melodic sensibilities are strong but a bit narrow--but he makes up for it with increased focus. Unmistakable whiffs of the sublime "Wham City" are easily forgiven, especially when the similarly central "Snookered" very nearly overtakes it with poise and poignance. Even Dan Deacon's admirers may have questioned his ability to mature, but Bromst is an exhilirating step forward. (Nick Huinker)

Deacon's playing at Catalyst on Tuesday, April 7, at 8 p.m. with Future Islands and Teeth Mountain.

photo by Ray Roy

Heartsrevolution, Switchblade (IHEARTCOMIX)
Twitchy 8-bit electro from New York. An obvious debt to Crystal Castles, especially on the title track. The rest is lighter and bouncier and nods to '80s synth pop.

Shooter Jennings, Bad Magick: The Best of Shooter Jennings and the .357s (Universal Records South)
Can't be a good sign when your last two albums failed to make the top 50 and it's been four years since you had a hit and your label releases a greatest hits culled from just three studio records. Smells like contract fulfillment to me.
The contents: Southern rock marketed to country radio. Guest spots by George Jones and Doug Kershaw (and Mrs. B.I.G. Faith Evans (!) on "Southern Comfort"), a cover of Dire Straits' "Walk of Life," a "Ballad of "Easy Rider"-style stoner saga that incorporates Black Sabbath's "Sweet Leaf." Two previously unreleased tracks are maybe worth the cash-in: a live cover of Waylon's "Lonesome Blues" and a nicely arranged version of the totally appropriate Hank Williams Jr. song "Living Proof."

Back to the stack, which just gets bigger:

The Movement, Set Sail (One Bald Egg)
Reverb-heavy rap-reggae. Bass way up in the mix; hints of dub and roots. These guys listened to a lot of Sublime in college. Featuring G. Love. Improbably dexterous (if you ignore the drums) and yet still abhorrent.

The Future, Future (Futureband LLC)
Local band from somewhere that likes Simple Minds and Bob Marley's Legend.

Jerad Finck, Jerad Finck (Hit Street)
Singer/songwriter power pop. Standard stuff, but catchy and loud. Raises the question, though: If One Tree Hill had been on the air in 1992, would Freedy Johnston have had a song on it? (Subtract points for the heavy metal arrangement of "Paperback Writer.")

Wino, Punctuated Equilibrium (Southern Lord): No doubt that two afternoon beers really help my impression of this solo debut (!) from ex-Saint Vitus/Obsessed/Hidden Hand/etc. frontman Scott "Wino" Weinrich. My first impression last month was "meh." Now it's totally kicking my ass--Wino's found this real sweet spot between outright doom (The Obsessed/Saint Vitus) and Southern rock (The Hidden Hand). It's a power trio, emphasis on power, with Wino on guitars and vocals and Jean Paul Gaster on drums and Jon Blank on bass; there's drawn-out epic groove jams ("Release Me," "The Woman in the Orange Pants"), proggy '70s workouts ("Smilin' Road"), and barn-burning hard rock (the title track).

I love Wino-era Saint Vitus--some real stand-outs on the SST roster, and that's saying something--but that group was sort of one-note. A good, deep one, but still. Here he matches the stone-deep heavy balls of SV with the texture of HH, and it might be his most mature work. It's badass, for sure. 

The Zydepunks, Finisterre (Nine Mile Records): Like if the Pogues were from Louisiana, except not really. Zydeco, really fast, with big and obvious melodies. "Dear Molly" is okay. They're playing Barley's on Saturday.

Young Dubliners, Saints and Sinners (429 Records): Big arena-ready hard pub rock with, unfortunately, fiddle and mandolin. Title track's not so much Celtic rock 'n' roll, as they describe themselves, as Catholic rock 'n' roll. Songs about booze, childhood friends, and love gone bad. hat do you want me to say? Go buy some Thin Lizzy instead.

Bloodkin, Baby, They Told Us We Would Rise Again: Opening track "The Viper" is good, lumbering contemporary Southern rock, but is a seven-and-a-half minute power ballad really the way to start an album? (Still two minutes left, and the guitars are already going all "Freebird.") Drive-By Truckers are an obvious influence, maybe a little too much (Bloodkin's from Athens and Patterson Hood wrote the liner notes), but they've absorbed Skynyrd, too, and there's a little (lot) late-model 38 Special on "Wait Forever." Very good performances all around, in fact--I should have gone to see them when they opened for DBT last month--but the songs are maybe a little too self-consciously epic and magesterial.

A.A. Bondy, American Hearts: Gloomy alt-folk ex-alt-rock guy with a passing vocal resemblance to Steve Earle. Well done--simple minor-key strums, gruff but polished singing, atmospheric embellishments (organ, reverb guitar)--but a little silly with the Southern Gothic thing. So serious and poetic.