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Adam Green - Jacket Full Of Danger
The album cover photo finds Adam Green looking spiffy, groomed, and downright hipster-ish, and the production on this fourth album is polished and sophisticated, boasting strings and noir-ish, lounge-y touches. One could conclude that anti-folk songwriter Green is maturing, although his lyrics on songs like "Hairy Women" and "Drugs" remain as willfully off-the-wall and adolescent as his earliest work with the Moldy Peaches.
The album cover photo finds Adam Green looking spiffy, groomed, and downright hipster-ish, and the production on this fourth album is polished and sophisticated, boasting strings and noir-ish, lounge-y touches. One could conclude that anti-folk songwriter Green is maturing, although his lyrics on songs like "Hairy Women" and "Drugs" remain as willfully off-the-wall and adolescent as his earliest work with the Moldy Peaches.
₪39.00
Akron / Family - S/t Ii : The Cosmic Birth And Journey...(double Vinylp + Mp3)
Akron/Family debuted their new format as a trio minus vocalist and guitarist Ryan Vanderhoof on 2009's Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free. They also moved pointedly away from the trappings of post-psych acid folk into multiple directions simultaneously: from animistic avant-rock, freaky funk, and even prog. S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT, issued in February of 2011, solidifies that move in a surprising manner. It is easily the most optimistic, spiritually blissed-out recording in the band's catalog. It was composed and arranged in a cabin near a live volcano in Akan National Park in Hokkaido, Japan, then recorded at Michigan Central Station, the massive abandoned train station in Detroit, as well as at various homes in Portland, OR. Teaming once more with producer Chris Koltay, the trio of Miles Seaton, Seth Olinsky, and Dana Janssen are joined on select tracks by Vanderhoof on slide guitar, vocalist Ali Beletic, trumpeter Ed Sortman, and Japanese vanguard percussion legend Tatsuya Nakatani. Tribalistic drums, distorted lo-fi efx, a screaming lead guitar -- that sounds a lot like the late Stuart Adamson's from Skids -- soaring organ, and a chorus of chanted vocals introduce "Silly Bears" and thus the album. All instruments are on stun, as the vocals chart a journey to metaphoric bliss inside a post-acid nursery rhyme. The sounds of nature -- ? la birdsongs -- permeate the less strident but ultimately more beautiful textures and ambiences of "Islands," with lilting keyboards, drifting guitars, and hypnotic tom-toms. "So It Goes" begins as a riff-laden guitar fest, but shifts gears once the melody kicks in and becomes a celebratory paean to generosity. Sonic abstraction has its place here too, on the moodier "A AAA O A WAY" and in the shimmering interior dreamscape that introduces "Fuji II (Single Pane)." The album's final cut, "Creator," uses Pharoah Sanders' lyric from "The Creator Has a Master Plan," but is far from his beautifully celebratory jazz joy. Instead there are delicate slide guitars, acoustic pianos, softly sung choruses, and a textural palette reminiscent of sun-drenched open fields. Ultimately, S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT is a further step in Akron/Family's already expansive musical journey; one that will no doubt delight fans and should turn on novices in droves.
Akron/Family debuted their new format as a trio minus vocalist and guitarist Ryan Vanderhoof on 2009's Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free. They also moved pointedly away from the trappings of post-psych acid folk into multiple directions simultaneously: from animistic avant-rock, freaky funk, and even prog. S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT, issued in February of 2011, solidifies that move in a surprising manner. It is easily the most optimistic, spiritually blissed-out recording in the band's catalog. It was composed and arranged in a cabin near a live volcano in Akan National Park in Hokkaido, Japan, then recorded at Michigan Central Station, the massive abandoned train station in Detroit, as well as at various homes in Portland, OR. Teaming once more with producer Chris Koltay, the trio of Miles Seaton, Seth Olinsky, and Dana Janssen are joined on select tracks by Vanderhoof on slide guitar, vocalist Ali Beletic, trumpeter Ed Sortman, and Japanese vanguard percussion legend Tatsuya Nakatani. Tribalistic drums, distorted lo-fi efx, a screaming lead guitar -- that sounds a lot like the late Stuart Adamson's from Skids -- soaring organ, and a chorus of chanted vocals introduce "Silly Bears" and thus the album. All instruments are on stun, as the vocals chart a journey to metaphoric bliss inside a post-acid nursery rhyme. The sounds of nature -- ? la birdsongs -- permeate the less strident but ultimately more beautiful textures and ambiences of "Islands," with lilting keyboards, drifting guitars, and hypnotic tom-toms. "So It Goes" begins as a riff-laden guitar fest, but shifts gears once the melody kicks in and becomes a celebratory paean to generosity. Sonic abstraction has its place here too, on the moodier "A AAA O A WAY" and in the shimmering interior dreamscape that introduces "Fuji II (Single Pane)." The album's final cut, "Creator," uses Pharoah Sanders' lyric from "The Creator Has a Master Plan," but is far from his beautifully celebratory jazz joy. Instead there are delicate slide guitars, acoustic pianos, softly sung choruses, and a textural palette reminiscent of sun-drenched open fields. Ultimately, S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT is a further step in Akron/Family's already expansive musical journey; one that will no doubt delight fans and should turn on novices in droves.
₪109.00
Albert Hammond, Jr. - Como Te Lllama? (cd + Dvd)
UK limited two disc (CD + DVD) edition of the 2008 album from The Strokes guitarist includes a bonus DVD featuring his live performance at New York's Bowery Ballroom in 2007. ¨C¢mo Te Llama?, the sophomore solo effort from Hammond, features a guest appearance from Sean Lennon playing piano on 'Spooky Couch'.
UK limited two disc (CD + DVD) edition of the 2008 album from The Strokes guitarist includes a bonus DVD featuring his live performance at New York's Bowery Ballroom in 2007. ¨C¢mo Te Llama?, the sophomore solo effort from Hammond, features a guest appearance from Sean Lennon playing piano on 'Spooky Couch'.
₪79.00
Allan Moon - Song Of The Wind
Song of the Wind stretches across Moons' wide spectrum, his uncompromising lyrical content and the ability to deliver a soft croon and a ballsy roar in the same breath. From the social commentary of Sheep, to the achingly honest Days of Healing, and down into Heartbreak, in which Moon tackles getting stoned, sucking toes and dying. It is the work of a musician who has worked as both poet and artist, and is at once musical, visual and poetic."
Song of the Wind stretches across Moons' wide spectrum, his uncompromising lyrical content and the ability to deliver a soft croon and a ballsy roar in the same breath. From the social commentary of Sheep, to the achingly honest Days of Healing, and down into Heartbreak, in which Moon tackles getting stoned, sucking toes and dying. It is the work of a musician who has worked as both poet and artist, and is at once musical, visual and poetic."
₪49.00
Andrew Bird - Oh! The Granneur
Andrew Bird's second album Oh! The Grandeur reunites him with his Bowl of Fire counterparts, as well as some special collaborators like the Squirrel Nut Zippers' James Mathus. Recorded in New Orleans, the album builds on the hot jazz/Brecht vibe that Bowl of Fire pioneered on their first album Thrills, but focuses more on Bird's witty lyrics and deadpan delivery, as tracks like "Tea & Thorazine" and "The Idiot's Genius" display. Musically, Oh! The Grandeur keeps the live, one-take feeling of its predecessor, and Bird's fiddle playing is as expressive as ever.
Andrew Bird's second album Oh! The Grandeur reunites him with his Bowl of Fire counterparts, as well as some special collaborators like the Squirrel Nut Zippers' James Mathus. Recorded in New Orleans, the album builds on the hot jazz/Brecht vibe that Bowl of Fire pioneered on their first album Thrills, but focuses more on Bird's witty lyrics and deadpan delivery, as tracks like "Tea & Thorazine" and "The Idiot's Genius" display. Musically, Oh! The Grandeur keeps the live, one-take feeling of its predecessor, and Bird's fiddle playing is as expressive as ever.
₪69.00
Andrew Bird - The Swimming Hour
Listening to Swimming Hour is like taking a walking tour through 20th century musical history. Andrew Bird, a major contributor to nouveau-swing band the Squirrel Nut Zippers, mixes numerous styles and genres such as classical, Latin, and gypsy music, among others. The song "Why" feels like a jazz song from a 1950s film noir soundtrack, and "Satisfied" blends gospel with straight-ahead rock & roll. Also impressive is Bird's cover versions of the Mississippi Sheiks' "Too Long" and Nelstone's Hawaiians' "Fatal Flower Garden," a reworked rendition of an old Irish ballad. The vast array of musical styles are united by Bird's haunting vocals as well as lyrics that are both thoughtful and whimsical. While Swimming Hour is clearly an album obsessed with musical history, Bird manages to mix in enough of his own unique style to prevent the album from feeling like a musty old museum piece.
Listening to Swimming Hour is like taking a walking tour through 20th century musical history. Andrew Bird, a major contributor to nouveau-swing band the Squirrel Nut Zippers, mixes numerous styles and genres such as classical, Latin, and gypsy music, among others. The song "Why" feels like a jazz song from a 1950s film noir soundtrack, and "Satisfied" blends gospel with straight-ahead rock & roll. Also impressive is Bird's cover versions of the Mississippi Sheiks' "Too Long" and Nelstone's Hawaiians' "Fatal Flower Garden," a reworked rendition of an old Irish ballad. The vast array of musical styles are united by Bird's haunting vocals as well as lyrics that are both thoughtful and whimsical. While Swimming Hour is clearly an album obsessed with musical history, Bird manages to mix in enough of his own unique style to prevent the album from feeling like a musty old museum piece.
₪69.00
Andrew Brid - Thrills
Andrew Bird, who used to play with the Squirrel nut zippers, has produced a landmark album with thrills. Musically, its extremely diverse, blending swing and hungarian gypsy style music with a whole lot more. Instrumentally they've got it all. Andy Bird's violin playing is absolutley amazing- as is the range and combination of instruments and playing styles. Brilliant.
Andrew Bird, who used to play with the Squirrel nut zippers, has produced a landmark album with thrills. Musically, its extremely diverse, blending swing and hungarian gypsy style music with a whole lot more. Instrumentally they've got it all. Andy Bird's violin playing is absolutley amazing- as is the range and combination of instruments and playing styles. Brilliant.
₪69.00
Animal Collective - Here Comes The Indian
Informed in equal parts by acid-fried psychosis, crop-circle field recordings, and an elephants-on-the-loose circus thrash aesthetic, Animal Collective's fourth full-length album rests roughly at the meeting point between psychedelic, noise, and folk music. Here Comes the Indian begins gently enough with "Native Belle," a moody set piece that belies the album's clatter with 12 minutes of constrained rhythmic builds, drones, and squeaks. Things quickly explode with the searing "Hey Light," a lightning bolt of electrocuted brass and human wails that sends the album careening into psychoactive delirium. Since everything that follows -- from the shrieking brattle of "Two Sails on a Sound" to the enchanted tribal vocal exercises of "Slippi" to the slow-building celebratory scuttle of "Too Soon" -- feels similarly crazed, drug-induced, and apparitional, Here Comes the Indian makes for particularly lucid listening. Brash, crass, and texturally magnificent, this is well worth seeking out.
Informed in equal parts by acid-fried psychosis, crop-circle field recordings, and an elephants-on-the-loose circus thrash aesthetic, Animal Collective's fourth full-length album rests roughly at the meeting point between psychedelic, noise, and folk music. Here Comes the Indian begins gently enough with "Native Belle," a moody set piece that belies the album's clatter with 12 minutes of constrained rhythmic builds, drones, and squeaks. Things quickly explode with the searing "Hey Light," a lightning bolt of electrocuted brass and human wails that sends the album careening into psychoactive delirium. Since everything that follows -- from the shrieking brattle of "Two Sails on a Sound" to the enchanted tribal vocal exercises of "Slippi" to the slow-building celebratory scuttle of "Too Soon" -- feels similarly crazed, drug-induced, and apparitional, Here Comes the Indian makes for particularly lucid listening. Brash, crass, and texturally magnificent, this is well worth seeking out.
₪59.00
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
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Animal Collective have brought the celestial down to earth with each record, but they've never sounded simultaneously otherworldly and approachable quite like they do on Merriweather Post Pavilion. Their eighth studio LP, it finds them at their best -- straining farther away from conventional song structure and accompaniment, even while doubling back to reach lyrical themes and modes of singing at their most basic or child-like. Where before AC expertly inserted experimental snippets into relatively straight-ahead songs, Merriweather Post Pavilion sees them reach some kind of denouement where pop music ends and pure sonic experience begins -- the sound is the only structure. Dismantling the framework of a pop song almost entirely (but using recurring passages in a very poppy way), the group offer a series of overlapping circular elements, all of which occasionally come together for a chorus but then break apart just as quickly. The music itself, at least what's describable about it, consists of deep bass pulses and art-damaged guitars with overlapping vocal harmonies that rise in a holy chorus. This may sound much like previous Animal Collective highlights, but where those records seemed like a series of accidental masterpieces -- the type of work that sounds brilliant only because it's been culled from hundreds of hours of tape -- Merriweather Post Pavilion is a perfectly organized record, not a note out of place, not a second wasted. It has the excitement and energy of Sung Tongs, the ragged sonic glory of Feels, and Strawberry Jam's ability to make separate parts come together in a glorious whole. Like the best experimental rockers surging toward nirvana -- from the Beach Boys to Mercury Rev -- Animal Collective have not only created a private soundworld like none other, they've also made it an inviting place to visit.
Animal Collective have brought the celestial down to earth with each record, but they've never sounded simultaneously otherworldly and approachable quite like they do on Merriweather Post Pavilion. Their eighth studio LP, it finds them at their best -- straining farther away from conventional song structure and accompaniment, even while doubling back to reach lyrical themes and modes of singing at their most basic or child-like. Where before AC expertly inserted experimental snippets into relatively straight-ahead songs, Merriweather Post Pavilion sees them reach some kind of denouement where pop music ends and pure sonic experience begins -- the sound is the only structure. Dismantling the framework of a pop song almost entirely (but using recurring passages in a very poppy way), the group offer a series of overlapping circular elements, all of which occasionally come together for a chorus but then break apart just as quickly. The music itself, at least what's describable about it, consists of deep bass pulses and art-damaged guitars with overlapping vocal harmonies that rise in a holy chorus. This may sound much like previous Animal Collective highlights, but where those records seemed like a series of accidental masterpieces -- the type of work that sounds brilliant only because it's been culled from hundreds of hours of tape -- Merriweather Post Pavilion is a perfectly organized record, not a note out of place, not a second wasted. It has the excitement and energy of Sung Tongs, the ragged sonic glory of Feels, and Strawberry Jam's ability to make separate parts come together in a glorious whole. Like the best experimental rockers surging toward nirvana -- from the Beach Boys to Mercury Rev -- Animal Collective have not only created a private soundworld like none other, they've also made it an inviting place to visit.
₪65.00
Antony & The Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now
It's not often that an album released in January gets called one of the best of the year in near-unison, but the second full length by Antony and the Johnsons is so startlingly beautiful that it simply has to be. Like his friend and compatriot Devendra Banhart, Antony is a super-talented singer-songwriter with a flair for dramatic artsong. But the cherubic Antony is so original he must get mistaken for an alien quite often; he sings like a bluesy opera singer and switches timbre from masculine to feminine in the space of a breath. The only vocal comparison that comes close is Nina Simone. Antony's honest lyrics deal with deep wounds and troubled desires with matter of fact poetry and subtle humor, as in a short story by JT LeRoy. Aided and abetted by a versatile band that's often closer to chamber orchestra than rock act, Antony delivers a visionary album with I Am A Bird Now. Oh yeah: Rufus Wainwright, Devendra, Lou Reed and Boy George all appear on here, too.
1 Hope There's Someone 4:21
2 My Lady Story 3:33
3 For Today I Am a Boy 2:36
4 Man Is the Baby 4:09
5 You Are My Sister (feat. Boy George) 3:59
6 What Can I Do? (feat. Rufus Wainwright) 1:40
7 Fistful of Love (feat. Lou Reed) 5:51
8 Spiralling (feat. Devendra Banhart) 4:25
9 Free at Last 1:36
10 Bird Gerhl
It's not often that an album released in January gets called one of the best of the year in near-unison, but the second full length by Antony and the Johnsons is so startlingly beautiful that it simply has to be. Like his friend and compatriot Devendra Banhart, Antony is a super-talented singer-songwriter with a flair for dramatic artsong. But the cherubic Antony is so original he must get mistaken for an alien quite often; he sings like a bluesy opera singer and switches timbre from masculine to feminine in the space of a breath. The only vocal comparison that comes close is Nina Simone. Antony's honest lyrics deal with deep wounds and troubled desires with matter of fact poetry and subtle humor, as in a short story by JT LeRoy. Aided and abetted by a versatile band that's often closer to chamber orchestra than rock act, Antony delivers a visionary album with I Am A Bird Now. Oh yeah: Rufus Wainwright, Devendra, Lou Reed and Boy George all appear on here, too.
1 Hope There's Someone 4:21
2 My Lady Story 3:33
3 For Today I Am a Boy 2:36
4 Man Is the Baby 4:09
5 You Are My Sister (feat. Boy George) 3:59
6 What Can I Do? (feat. Rufus Wainwright) 1:40
7 Fistful of Love (feat. Lou Reed) 5:51
8 Spiralling (feat. Devendra Banhart) 4:25
9 Free at Last 1:36
10 Bird Gerhl
₪59.00
Antony & The Johnsons - Swanlights
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This fourth album from the angel-voiced former Mercury Prize winner is the follow-up to 2009's 'The Crying Light'. While that album was hushed and minimalist, this has been calledhis most "maximal" work to date, with an expanded palette of exotic instrumentation and avant-garde elements. Includes 'Thank You For Your Love' from the EP of the same name and features a guest appearance from Bjork, returning the favour after Antony appeared on her album 'Volta'.
This fourth album from the angel-voiced former Mercury Prize winner is the follow-up to 2009's 'The Crying Light'. While that album was hushed and minimalist, this has been calledhis most "maximal" work to date, with an expanded palette of exotic instrumentation and avant-garde elements. Includes 'Thank You For Your Love' from the EP of the same name and features a guest appearance from Bjork, returning the favour after Antony appeared on her album 'Volta'.
₪65.00
Antony & The Johnsons - Swanlights : Deluxe 180 Gram Vinyl LP
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This fourth album from the angel-voiced former Mercury Prize winner is the follow-up to 2009's 'The Crying Light'. While that album was hushed and minimalist, this has been calledhis most "maximal" work to date, with an expanded palette of exotic instrumentation and avant-garde elements. Includes 'Thank You For Your Love' from the EP of the same name and features a guest appearance from Bjork, returning the favour after Antony appeared on her album 'Volta'.
This fourth album from the angel-voiced former Mercury Prize winner is the follow-up to 2009's 'The Crying Light'. While that album was hushed and minimalist, this has been calledhis most "maximal" work to date, with an expanded palette of exotic instrumentation and avant-garde elements. Includes 'Thank You For Your Love' from the EP of the same name and features a guest appearance from Bjork, returning the favour after Antony appeared on her album 'Volta'.
₪99.00
Arcade Fire - Arcade Fire [ep]
![Arcade Fire - Arcade Fire [ep]](http://www.psychprog.com/pictures/products/thumbs/img9301(1).jpg)
Originally recorded in 2003 and sold over the web and at Arcade Fire shows, this seven-song EP plays like a sonic blueprint for the majestic, passionate songscapes of the band's 2004 watershed album.
Song Title
1. Old Flame
2. I'm Sleeping In A Submarine
3. No Cars Go
4. Woodland National Anthem, The
5. My Heart Is An Apple
6. Headlights Look Like Diamonds
7. Vampire / Forest Fire
Originally recorded in 2003 and sold over the web and at Arcade Fire shows, this seven-song EP plays like a sonic blueprint for the majestic, passionate songscapes of the band's 2004 watershed album.
Song Title
1. Old Flame
2. I'm Sleeping In A Submarine
3. No Cars Go
4. Woodland National Anthem, The
5. My Heart Is An Apple
6. Headlights Look Like Diamonds
7. Vampire / Forest Fire
₪69.00
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
If 2007's Neon Bible was supposed to be Arcade Fire's difficult second album, it didn't show. Top marks from a cavalcade of critical tomes saw the Montreal septet's sequel to their breakthrough debut long-player of 2004, Funeral, received with just as much reverence as its predecessor. So what of The Suburbs, arriving after another three-year period which saw its makers record in both their hometown and New York?
Even on a cursory listen, a water-testing foray into its 16 tracks, it's immediately apparent that this is an album unlike either that came before it. While Funeral and Neon Bible were great sets, their strengths laid primarily in a handful of stand-out selections-Wake Up and Power Out on the former, No Cars Go and Black Wave among the highs on the latter. The Suburbs appears to have been conceived as a whole in a manner considerably more studied than the band's previous attempts. Its sequencing is perfect, the contrast between fiery punk number Month of May and the following acoustic strum of Wasted Hours the most prominent instance of how unlikely tracks are segued with uncommon skill. It's a convergent collection, too, the opening title-track reprised come the record's quiet climax, comprising an intro to its earlier, fuller version. Put The Suburbs on repeat and days could pass before the urge to change the record takes hold.
If that sounds like excessive hyperbole, well, you're probably yet to hear The Suburbs in full. Its stand-alone tracks, as played on radio stations the world over in anticipation of this release, far from tell the whole tale. Month of May, as implied above, is the album's frenetic fulcrum, but stylistically it's detached from the majority. Its opener sets a tone of sorts, but it's one the band has some fun with, filtering influences ranging from Springsteen to Depeche Mode into songs that operate on a level of subconscious infiltration that surpasses the earworm qualities of Funeral's most immediate cuts. Case in point: the propulsive Ready to Start, which somehow balances an air of anguish with triumphant exclamation; City With No Children takes lyrical cues from dark places but allows instrumental light enough to seep into the mix, creating an end product that's like the finest Hold Steady song never written.
A brace of two-part pieces, Half Light and Sprawl, is indicative of Arcade Fire's successful progression to a new dominion of creativity. The former's string-soaked flourishes are surely set to replace The Cinematic Orchestra's To Build a Home as the soundtrack to a few thousand television trailers; Sprawl, meanwhile, confirms this album's conceptual direction atop shimmering synth lines. Alienation and abandonment, social stereotypes and fractured fantasies-all tropes present and correct, the encapsulating title alluding to an outsider status manifested both physically and, more pertinently, emotionally.
"I need the darkness / can you please cut the lights?" Lines like this might seem trite, or at least insincere, coming from a band that's enjoyed worldwide commercial success, that's been on general public display for some five years plus. But it's important to remember that Arcade Fire's journey from underground obscurity to chart-topping acclaim has been at a trajectory decidedly different to many a music industry heavyweight, more happy accident than orchestrated intent. Emerging from a previously unexplored beyond, their story has always been theirs alone to tell. And The Suburbs is their most thrillingly engrossing chapter yet; a complex, captivating work that, several cycles down the line, retains the magic and mystery of that first tentative encounter. You could call it their OK Computer. But it's arguably better than that.
If 2007's Neon Bible was supposed to be Arcade Fire's difficult second album, it didn't show. Top marks from a cavalcade of critical tomes saw the Montreal septet's sequel to their breakthrough debut long-player of 2004, Funeral, received with just as much reverence as its predecessor. So what of The Suburbs, arriving after another three-year period which saw its makers record in both their hometown and New York?
Even on a cursory listen, a water-testing foray into its 16 tracks, it's immediately apparent that this is an album unlike either that came before it. While Funeral and Neon Bible were great sets, their strengths laid primarily in a handful of stand-out selections-Wake Up and Power Out on the former, No Cars Go and Black Wave among the highs on the latter. The Suburbs appears to have been conceived as a whole in a manner considerably more studied than the band's previous attempts. Its sequencing is perfect, the contrast between fiery punk number Month of May and the following acoustic strum of Wasted Hours the most prominent instance of how unlikely tracks are segued with uncommon skill. It's a convergent collection, too, the opening title-track reprised come the record's quiet climax, comprising an intro to its earlier, fuller version. Put The Suburbs on repeat and days could pass before the urge to change the record takes hold.
If that sounds like excessive hyperbole, well, you're probably yet to hear The Suburbs in full. Its stand-alone tracks, as played on radio stations the world over in anticipation of this release, far from tell the whole tale. Month of May, as implied above, is the album's frenetic fulcrum, but stylistically it's detached from the majority. Its opener sets a tone of sorts, but it's one the band has some fun with, filtering influences ranging from Springsteen to Depeche Mode into songs that operate on a level of subconscious infiltration that surpasses the earworm qualities of Funeral's most immediate cuts. Case in point: the propulsive Ready to Start, which somehow balances an air of anguish with triumphant exclamation; City With No Children takes lyrical cues from dark places but allows instrumental light enough to seep into the mix, creating an end product that's like the finest Hold Steady song never written.
A brace of two-part pieces, Half Light and Sprawl, is indicative of Arcade Fire's successful progression to a new dominion of creativity. The former's string-soaked flourishes are surely set to replace The Cinematic Orchestra's To Build a Home as the soundtrack to a few thousand television trailers; Sprawl, meanwhile, confirms this album's conceptual direction atop shimmering synth lines. Alienation and abandonment, social stereotypes and fractured fantasies-all tropes present and correct, the encapsulating title alluding to an outsider status manifested both physically and, more pertinently, emotionally.
"I need the darkness / can you please cut the lights?" Lines like this might seem trite, or at least insincere, coming from a band that's enjoyed worldwide commercial success, that's been on general public display for some five years plus. But it's important to remember that Arcade Fire's journey from underground obscurity to chart-topping acclaim has been at a trajectory decidedly different to many a music industry heavyweight, more happy accident than orchestrated intent. Emerging from a previously unexplored beyond, their story has always been theirs alone to tell. And The Suburbs is their most thrillingly engrossing chapter yet; a complex, captivating work that, several cycles down the line, retains the magic and mystery of that first tentative encounter. You could call it their OK Computer. But it's arguably better than that.
₪69.00
Ataxia ( John Frusciante) - Automatic Writing
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Coming after Shadows Collide With People and The Will to Death, Automatic Writing - credited to Ataxia - is part of the onslaught of John Frusciante projects released in 2004 through Warner subsidiary Record Collection. The guitarist is aided by now-regular associate Josh Klinghoffer on drums and synthesizer; Fugazi's Joe Lally plays bass. All three played roles in the songwriting process, and the recording has a very spontaneous, searching thrust to it, so it makes total sense that it's credited to a band - as opposed to Frusciante's relatively private-sounding solo releases. Frusciante made a point to credit early PiL for being a major inspiration; that band's Metal Box is indeed an apt point of reference, with the album's long-form tracks (taken to a further extreme here) and skeletal, wide-open arrangements fostering a desultory, claustrophobic touch. This is, however, no attempt to re-create Metal Box. Frusciante's spindly guitar generates cautious prickles rather than abrupt slashes, Lally's deep basslines rumble rather than throb, Klinghoffer's drums are more heavy on the toms than the bass drum; in fact, the bleak, sparse nature of most of these 45 minutes recall the quieter passages of Fugazi's "Suggestion." On each track, Frusciante's vocals cast an anguished shade, involving spooky howls, distressed falsettos, and wordless mumbles that sound like they were recorded while his mouth was crammed with balls of cotton. His ever-developing synth playing - closer to piercing accents than anything musical - makes the occasional welcomed interruption. At times, there's a little too much puttering around going on, but the majority of the album is both haunting and bracing enough to keep you anxiously awaiting the next development. One does get the feeling that this album and the one that followed (from the same sessions) could've been condensed into one hour-long slab.
1. Dust 8:56
2. Another 6:22
3. The Sides 6:44
4. Addition 10:14
5. Montreal 12:24
Coming after Shadows Collide With People and The Will to Death, Automatic Writing - credited to Ataxia - is part of the onslaught of John Frusciante projects released in 2004 through Warner subsidiary Record Collection. The guitarist is aided by now-regular associate Josh Klinghoffer on drums and synthesizer; Fugazi's Joe Lally plays bass. All three played roles in the songwriting process, and the recording has a very spontaneous, searching thrust to it, so it makes total sense that it's credited to a band - as opposed to Frusciante's relatively private-sounding solo releases. Frusciante made a point to credit early PiL for being a major inspiration; that band's Metal Box is indeed an apt point of reference, with the album's long-form tracks (taken to a further extreme here) and skeletal, wide-open arrangements fostering a desultory, claustrophobic touch. This is, however, no attempt to re-create Metal Box. Frusciante's spindly guitar generates cautious prickles rather than abrupt slashes, Lally's deep basslines rumble rather than throb, Klinghoffer's drums are more heavy on the toms than the bass drum; in fact, the bleak, sparse nature of most of these 45 minutes recall the quieter passages of Fugazi's "Suggestion." On each track, Frusciante's vocals cast an anguished shade, involving spooky howls, distressed falsettos, and wordless mumbles that sound like they were recorded while his mouth was crammed with balls of cotton. His ever-developing synth playing - closer to piercing accents than anything musical - makes the occasional welcomed interruption. At times, there's a little too much puttering around going on, but the majority of the album is both haunting and bracing enough to keep you anxiously awaiting the next development. One does get the feeling that this album and the one that followed (from the same sessions) could've been condensed into one hour-long slab.
1. Dust 8:56
2. Another 6:22
3. The Sides 6:44
4. Addition 10:14
5. Montreal 12:24
₪69.00
Avi Buffalo - Avi Buffalo (vinyl Lp + Mp3 Coupon)
There are moments in everybody's life - moments buried deep in the blissful haze of departed childhood or misspent youth - which are always conjured up upon hearing a certain song. Whether it's one that was around at the time, or one that sums up how you felt, just hearing a few seconds are enough to transport you back to a time and place that you hadn't thought about for a long time - slices of life long gone, dreams long discarded, love long since faded, people long since dead.
Avi Buffalo is the adopted name of 19-year-old Avigdor Zahner-Isenberg, also the moniker of the band that he and three of his friends began some three years ago while in high school. Together - somehow - they've managed to create an album full of those moments, songs that evoke so precisely half-remembered summers and first loves that never existed, events and people in your life that never were, but which you can't help but remember.
It's very much a summer album, not just because of the (in)gloriously titled Summer Cum ("I got lost in your summer cum / Leave all your stains with me"), but because its songs glow with the warmth of that time of year. What's in It For? almost starts from where The Shins' New Slang left off, its surreal lyrics and falsetto vocals capturing the sense of a never-ending August night, albeit one imbued with teenage uncertainty. Then there's the lilting One Last, which captures the last vestiges of sunset, and the gentle erosion of innocence through experience on the lovely Can't I Know?
Throughout, Avi's vocals coalesce remarkably with those of keyboard player Rebecca Coleman, who was originally Avi's muse by way of an intense teenage crush. You can hear the tenderness of first love in their voices, which makes each song that much more fragile and brittle. Yet that frailty is strengthened by the band's glorious sunlit melodies and obtuse imagery, all of which combine to turn this into a truly remarkable album that's sad and wistful way beyond the band's years.
There are moments in everybody's life - moments buried deep in the blissful haze of departed childhood or misspent youth - which are always conjured up upon hearing a certain song. Whether it's one that was around at the time, or one that sums up how you felt, just hearing a few seconds are enough to transport you back to a time and place that you hadn't thought about for a long time - slices of life long gone, dreams long discarded, love long since faded, people long since dead.
Avi Buffalo is the adopted name of 19-year-old Avigdor Zahner-Isenberg, also the moniker of the band that he and three of his friends began some three years ago while in high school. Together - somehow - they've managed to create an album full of those moments, songs that evoke so precisely half-remembered summers and first loves that never existed, events and people in your life that never were, but which you can't help but remember.
It's very much a summer album, not just because of the (in)gloriously titled Summer Cum ("I got lost in your summer cum / Leave all your stains with me"), but because its songs glow with the warmth of that time of year. What's in It For? almost starts from where The Shins' New Slang left off, its surreal lyrics and falsetto vocals capturing the sense of a never-ending August night, albeit one imbued with teenage uncertainty. Then there's the lilting One Last, which captures the last vestiges of sunset, and the gentle erosion of innocence through experience on the lovely Can't I Know?
Throughout, Avi's vocals coalesce remarkably with those of keyboard player Rebecca Coleman, who was originally Avi's muse by way of an intense teenage crush. You can hear the tenderness of first love in their voices, which makes each song that much more fragile and brittle. Yet that frailty is strengthened by the band's glorious sunlit melodies and obtuse imagery, all of which combine to turn this into a truly remarkable album that's sad and wistful way beyond the band's years.
₪89.00
Band Of Horses - Cease To Begin (vinyl Lp W/ Digital Download)
When Band of Horses surfaced in 2006 with Everything All the Time, the band's rugged take on rock & roll drew quick parallels to My Morning Jacket and early Neil Young. That's mighty nice company for a young band, but co-founder Mat Brooke nevertheless left the lineup that same summer, choosing to blaze his own trail with Grand Archives instead. Ben Bridwell, Brooke's musical partner for nearly a decade, was left in control of Horses -- a daunting position for the former Carissa's Weird bassist, but one that ultimately resulted in a sophisticated, mature, and altogether superior follow-up. Cease to Begin is the responsible adult to Time's reckless teenager, with Bridwell pitting his high, clear tenor against backdrops of hazy indie rock and campfire singalongs. While tracks like "Weed Party" showed the band having harmless (albeit adolescent) fun on their debut, the good times on Cease to Begin are more grown-up: a lo-fi, foot-stomping pop ditty ("The General Specific"), a brief interlude of instrumental watercolors ("Lamb on the Lam [In the City]"), a detour into twangy country ("Marry Song"). Those looking for more anthemic rock will gravitate toward kickoff track "Is There a Ghost," where the guitars are loud and Bridwell's vocals are candy-coated in reverb, but Cease to Begin shines it brightest under the twilight glow of "Detlef Schrempf." Historically, Schrempf was a German-born NBA basketball player with killer three-point accuracy -- and while that's certainly an odd choice for a song title, it's easy to forget as drums beat a lazy rhythm beneath Bridwell's falsetto. Who knows whether he's singing to a hometown, a loved one, or his favorite member of the Seattle SuperSonics? It's still a thrilling listen, and the subtle humor hints that Band of Horses isn't growing up too quickly.
When Band of Horses surfaced in 2006 with Everything All the Time, the band's rugged take on rock & roll drew quick parallels to My Morning Jacket and early Neil Young. That's mighty nice company for a young band, but co-founder Mat Brooke nevertheless left the lineup that same summer, choosing to blaze his own trail with Grand Archives instead. Ben Bridwell, Brooke's musical partner for nearly a decade, was left in control of Horses -- a daunting position for the former Carissa's Weird bassist, but one that ultimately resulted in a sophisticated, mature, and altogether superior follow-up. Cease to Begin is the responsible adult to Time's reckless teenager, with Bridwell pitting his high, clear tenor against backdrops of hazy indie rock and campfire singalongs. While tracks like "Weed Party" showed the band having harmless (albeit adolescent) fun on their debut, the good times on Cease to Begin are more grown-up: a lo-fi, foot-stomping pop ditty ("The General Specific"), a brief interlude of instrumental watercolors ("Lamb on the Lam [In the City]"), a detour into twangy country ("Marry Song"). Those looking for more anthemic rock will gravitate toward kickoff track "Is There a Ghost," where the guitars are loud and Bridwell's vocals are candy-coated in reverb, but Cease to Begin shines it brightest under the twilight glow of "Detlef Schrempf." Historically, Schrempf was a German-born NBA basketball player with killer three-point accuracy -- and while that's certainly an odd choice for a song title, it's easy to forget as drums beat a lazy rhythm beneath Bridwell's falsetto. Who knows whether he's singing to a hometown, a loved one, or his favorite member of the Seattle SuperSonics? It's still a thrilling listen, and the subtle humor hints that Band of Horses isn't growing up too quickly.
₪99.00
Baptist Generals - No Silver / No Gold
The Baptist Generals of Denton Texas are purveyors of some of the scariest acoustic guitar mangling you're likely to hear. Main General Chris Flemmons plays the acoustic guitar the way it was meant to be played: like a motherfuckin' drum. Perhaps the best way to describe this band is to remind you that they come from Texas, a state that gave us everyone from Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings to Roky Erickson and the Butthole Surfers. And, No Silver/No Gold has that coveted quality of sounding as though it might fall apart at any moment.
The Baptist Generals of Denton Texas are purveyors of some of the scariest acoustic guitar mangling you're likely to hear. Main General Chris Flemmons plays the acoustic guitar the way it was meant to be played: like a motherfuckin' drum. Perhaps the best way to describe this band is to remind you that they come from Texas, a state that gave us everyone from Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings to Roky Erickson and the Butthole Surfers. And, No Silver/No Gold has that coveted quality of sounding as though it might fall apart at any moment.
₪39.00
Beat Happening - Dreamy
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A stunning return to form, Dreamy reprises the dark aggression of the preceding Black Candy, but brings to the table a significantly stronger and more assured collection of songs. Measuring Calvin Johnson's increasingly menacing lead turns with Heather Lewis' more wistful contributions, the album strikes a careful balance between maturity and na?vet?; for all of their ragged minimalism, tracks like "Collide," "Revolution Come and Gone," and "Me Untamed" are remarkably sophisticated and assured. And in addition to the newfound sexiness of cuts like "Nancy Sin" and "Red Head Walking," there's also a renewed sense of emotional urgency - Heather's beguiling "Fortune Cookie Prize" is one of the group's most buoyant love songs, while the mournful "Cry for a Shadow" exposes the tenderness beneath Calvin's tough-guy veneer.
A stunning return to form, Dreamy reprises the dark aggression of the preceding Black Candy, but brings to the table a significantly stronger and more assured collection of songs. Measuring Calvin Johnson's increasingly menacing lead turns with Heather Lewis' more wistful contributions, the album strikes a careful balance between maturity and na?vet?; for all of their ragged minimalism, tracks like "Collide," "Revolution Come and Gone," and "Me Untamed" are remarkably sophisticated and assured. And in addition to the newfound sexiness of cuts like "Nancy Sin" and "Red Head Walking," there's also a renewed sense of emotional urgency - Heather's beguiling "Fortune Cookie Prize" is one of the group's most buoyant love songs, while the mournful "Cry for a Shadow" exposes the tenderness beneath Calvin's tough-guy veneer.
₪69.00
Beck - Mutations
Beck Hansen's most accessible disc to date all but defies comparison. It's a little Donovon, a little early Bowie and some Beatles' white album tossed in for good measure. But these similarities do not overpower - they wash in and out with the ebb and flow of one genre morphing into another. For Mutations, Beck has put aside the discordant hip-hop of Odelay! and goofy Gen-X snicker-snicker of Mellow Gold. Languid vocals and a hypnotic mood prevail over rich layers of acoustic arrangments, twang, psychedelia, synths, sitars and even bossa nova. Like a travelogue into his subconscious, Mutations tours Beck's psyche, his influences and varying moods. Songs like "Bottle Of Blues" and "Canceled Check" are catchy, hummable ditties, while "Cold Brains," "Nobody's Fault But My Own" and "We Live Again" mesmerize with their introspective meanderings. Seems that America's most adorable geek has grown up. Lest you think he takes himself too seriously, Beck's grotesque imagery and clever musings sting with irony. Somehow, though, he still maintains a sincerity that distinguishes himself from the hipster wannabes out there trying to smirk their way onto a Rolling Stone cover.
Beck Hansen's most accessible disc to date all but defies comparison. It's a little Donovon, a little early Bowie and some Beatles' white album tossed in for good measure. But these similarities do not overpower - they wash in and out with the ebb and flow of one genre morphing into another. For Mutations, Beck has put aside the discordant hip-hop of Odelay! and goofy Gen-X snicker-snicker of Mellow Gold. Languid vocals and a hypnotic mood prevail over rich layers of acoustic arrangments, twang, psychedelia, synths, sitars and even bossa nova. Like a travelogue into his subconscious, Mutations tours Beck's psyche, his influences and varying moods. Songs like "Bottle Of Blues" and "Canceled Check" are catchy, hummable ditties, while "Cold Brains," "Nobody's Fault But My Own" and "We Live Again" mesmerize with their introspective meanderings. Seems that America's most adorable geek has grown up. Lest you think he takes himself too seriously, Beck's grotesque imagery and clever musings sting with irony. Somehow, though, he still maintains a sincerity that distinguishes himself from the hipster wannabes out there trying to smirk their way onto a Rolling Stone cover.
₪65.00
Beirut - Gulag Orkestar
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While it may sound like an entire Balkan gypsy orchestra playing modern songs as mournful ballads and upbeat marches, Beirut's first album, Gulag Orkestar, is largely the work of one 19-year-old Albuquerque native, Zach Condon, with assistance by Jeremy Barnes (Neutral Milk Hotel, A Hawk and a Hacksaw) and Heather Trost (A Hawk and a Hacksaw). Horns, violins, cellos, ukuleles, mandolins, glockenspiels, drums, tambourines, congas, organs, pianos, clarinets and accordions (no guitars on this album!) all build and break the melodies under Condon's deep-voiced crooner vocals, swaying to the Eastern European beats like a drunken 12-member ensemble that has fallen in love with The Magnetic Fields, Talking Heads and Neutral Milk Hotel.
1. Gulag Orkestar
2. Prenzlauerberg
3. Brandenburg
4. Postcards from Italy
5. Mount Wroclai (Idle Days)
6. Rhineland (Heartland)
7. Scenic World
8. Bratislava
9. Bunker
10. Canals of Our City
11. After the Curtain
While it may sound like an entire Balkan gypsy orchestra playing modern songs as mournful ballads and upbeat marches, Beirut's first album, Gulag Orkestar, is largely the work of one 19-year-old Albuquerque native, Zach Condon, with assistance by Jeremy Barnes (Neutral Milk Hotel, A Hawk and a Hacksaw) and Heather Trost (A Hawk and a Hacksaw). Horns, violins, cellos, ukuleles, mandolins, glockenspiels, drums, tambourines, congas, organs, pianos, clarinets and accordions (no guitars on this album!) all build and break the melodies under Condon's deep-voiced crooner vocals, swaying to the Eastern European beats like a drunken 12-member ensemble that has fallen in love with The Magnetic Fields, Talking Heads and Neutral Milk Hotel.
1. Gulag Orkestar
2. Prenzlauerberg
3. Brandenburg
4. Postcards from Italy
5. Mount Wroclai (Idle Days)
6. Rhineland (Heartland)
7. Scenic World
8. Bratislava
9. Bunker
10. Canals of Our City
11. After the Curtain
₪59.00