December 2, 2005
Static - Re: Talking About Memories
Released Nov. 22, 2005
on City Centre Offices
Lush melodies build from classical samples and synthesizers, gentle guitars and pedal steel, simple percussion and electronic blips and bleeps.
Hanno Leichtmann records his solo material under the name Static, always collaborating with guest musicians. Re: Talking About Memories is his third full-length album for the City Centre Offices label based in his hometown of Berlin.
About half the songs have vocals, which sound best on “The Moon Had a Crack.” The singing on the rest of the album is harder for me to get in to. I agree with Textura that it would have been nice to hear a female vocalist over some of the dreamy soundscapes. Or maybe just a more accessible male singer.
As electronica with pop sensibilities, the music works. Despite the digital effects, the well-crafted songs reflect the human involvement. All Music Guide said the album “stretches beyond the boundaries of IDM and gives it a much needed electric shock to its hardening arteries.”
Just don’t expect it to wake you up.
Leichtmann has been involved in many other projects, from free-jazz bands to a contemporary dance company.
October 25, 2005
Animal Collective - Feels
Released Oct. 18
on Fat Cat
Feels finds core Animal Collective members Avey Tare and Panda Bear reunited with Geologist and Deakin, both decidedly absent from 2004’s Sung Tongs. And yes, those are the names they go by. They’ve also been known to perform in animal costumes and masks.
This may all sound like the formula for a throwaway novelty act, but don’t shy away just yet. The music is often just as weird but not without direction or attention to detail.
Geologist explained the group’s antics in a recent interview:
Over the years we’ve done a little dress-up and make-up. It’s sort of about just having fun and a loss of ego. It’s not something we take too seriously, though.
Instead, the Collective focuses on sonic explorations. Slow-strummed guitars and cascading piano lay atop primal drum beats. Found sounds and electronic drones add to the atmosphere. Often-indistinct lyrics and wordless, memorable vocal harmonies soar atop it all.
Of course, not everyone will “get” it. Slant Magazine seems rather unimpressed. Yet last week the group was SPIN.com’s band of the day, and Feels was Stylus Magazine’s album of the week.
You may just find it strangely brilliant.
October 13, 2005
Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene
Released Oct. 4, 2005
on Arts & Crafts
Broken Social Scene credits 17 musicians on its self-titled third album. That’s not including the four guests.
The combined sounds they produce are just as colossal, which can be the album’s best or worst attribute. It depends who you ask.
Despite high expectations following 2002’s acclaimed You Forgot It In People, the band refused to include single-worthy material. The album steers clear of any typical pop song structure, and the vocals often get buried in the mix.
Singer/guitarist Kevin Drew told MTV News, “Singles don’t really exist for our band; we don’t live in that world.”
Some will find the songs too busy. The New York Times said, “Broken Social Scene confuses integrity with indulgence, burying good songs under way too much studio tomfoolery.”
But the BSS Collective isn’t aiming at accessibility, and I think that the self-indulgence works.
Drew described the album as an “ethereal, distorted garage-pop record,” adding that “people are gonna (sic) think their speakers are busted.”
The songs swirl and burst. From the more delicate moments to the life-affirming crescendos, the densely layered songs sound best loud and in surround sound.
October 6, 2005
Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary
Released Sept. 27, 2005
on Sub Pop
Listen to this album lying in bed alone, staring at the ceiling. Or soon you may hear some of its songs blaring out the speakers as you stumble alongside the hipsters during your local club’s indie dance night.
Wolf Parade’s debut full length thrives in both environments. The album’s closing song captures this duality: “Sometimes we rock and roll. Sometimes we stay at home, and it’s just fine.”
Most of the songs build around keyboard-driven fuzzy melodies, driving percussion and repetitive sing-along choruses. The four members of Wolf Parade may break no new musical ground, but they do it so well. And maybe that’s enough.
Frontmen Dan Boeckner and Spencer Krug share vocal duties, taking turns in the spotlight. Emotive deliveries and ambiguous lyrics abound. As the songs twist, build and howl, you’re left with their images of bus rides and lonely towns, ghosts and bodies.
Almost no review fails to mention that Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock introduced the band to Sub Pop Records and produced much of this album. Or that the group also lists the Arcade Fire among its friends and comes out of Montreal’s blossoming music scene.
In an interview with cokemachineglow.com, Krug addresses the hype:
I’d like to think we’re good enough to hold peoples’ (sic) attention long enough so they’ll actually listen to the album and come to a show and think about our band outside of [these] terms… I mean, all these different variables add to something, but they have absolutely nothing to do with “the band.”
Wherever you are when you hear this album, set aside your expectations and take it for what it is, regardless of the band’s indie credentials.
September 22, 2005
Super Furry Animals - Love Kraft
Released Sept. 13, 2005
on XL/Beggars Group
Mixing sun-drenched pop with psychedelic, progressive rock, Love Kraft may be slightly more straightforward than some of the band’s past albums, but no less imaginative.
Super Furry Animals succeed in capturing the spirit of the music of the late ’60s and early ’70s, adding enough of their own flair to make the resulting sounds their own. Complete with infectious melodies, honey-dipped harmonies and enormous choruses, this is a guitar-heavy opus bent on musical and lyrical adventures.
With consistently innovative records, one reviewer argues that these Welsh genre benders may be the “most important band of the past 15 years.”
This is the Furries’ seventh studio album and the first to feature songs written and sung by four of the group’s five members. Half the songs contain string arrangements thanks to the High Llamas‘ Sean O’Hagan, a long-time collaborator and unofficial SFA member.
The often politically-frustrated band once turned down a seven-figure offer from Coca-Cola for the use of their song in a worldwide commercial. Lead vocalist Gruff Rhys explained the decision in
a recent interview:
Ultimately you’ve got to hear your own voice on telly selling a product that you hate, you know? Obviously it would make a big difference financially, but we get to make a living making music, and that’s amazing in itself. We’re holding out for that Red Stripe advert in Jamaica. We could probably stomach that and live happily ever after.
Where do they go from here?
“The future now is wide open and clear,” are the final words on the piano comedown of Love Kraft’s closing track, and the answer is revealed:
Just about anywhere.