Where’s the official soundtrack to Danny Boyle’s Sunshine from John Murphy and Underworld? Yes, I realize the non-orchestrated version of “To Heal” appears on Underworld’s out-dated Oblivion With Bells and that somebody uploaded an edited audio rip from the film’s DVD, but I want something with decent quality for shite’s sake. Also, Candiria’s Kiss the Lie is still indefinitely postponed even though it’s been finished since 2006. It seems their label won’t release it unless the band tours, but the band won’t tour without their drummer… who left the band. Brilliant. Now for more gobbledegook culled from the unfettered wasteland of my mind.
Maxïmo Park – Our Earthly Pleasures
This UK band’s A Certain Trigger channeled Gang of Four, minus the funk, highlighting our current post-punk revival zeitgeist. For the sophomore release, Maxïmo Park kept the northern English accent and added the best parts of new wave (yeah, they do exist). The synthesizers are more pronounced, as are piano and organ sections. Some of the tracks lean more toward balladry, however the strongest tracks are the first two rockers, “Girls Who Play Guitars” and lead single, “Our Velocity”. Much of the lyrical content crosses the uncertainty of youthful abandon via literate empathic songwriting. The production is glossier with more consistency between songs, but the loss of intensity and character when compared to their debut make the follow-up suffer a bit for it.
Manic Street Preachers – Send Away the Tigers
A band that came out of the popularity of rock music across the pond in the 90s, the Manics somehow got lumped into the dreaded Britpop genre along with those fucking no-talent, rip-off assclowns Oasis. Unfortunately, they took a detour with 2004′s Lifeblood which was a tedious, over-produced pop record focused on keyboards and programmed elements with nary a hook. Like The Smashing Pumpkins, the band checked out their backcatalog and decided to make some nods to their own material. They’ve gone back to huge sing-along anthems completely focused on guitars. Songs like “Underdog”, “Rendition”, and “Imperial Bodybags” are fast-paced rockers that demonstrate the group’s always present political convictions. Single “Your Love Alone is Not Enough” contains guest vocals by Nina Persson from Sweden’s sugar-pop band The Cardigans, which is unsurprisingly infectious. All the tracks are of the upbeat variety aside from the hidden finale cover of Lennon’s “Working Class Hero”. Oasis lovers need not apply.
With 2004′s dual releases of B EP and EP C (reissued as one CD by Warp Records in 2006), Battles were kind of a math rock novelty act with all their repetition in unconventional time signatures of experimental tones. It was headphone music for the nerdiest of nerds. The new album is a fair bit more accessible with playful tones used alongside the indecipherable Animal Collective/The Knife-ish vocoder techniques. “Atlas” became somewhat of an indie hit for its hooks, highlighting what sets this band apart from other technical-skill oriented rock acts: they have groove. For all those taps and pedal effects, their demented circus music still has a constant chug that acts as a head-nodder while having the depth to require a few listens to grasp its rhythms.
Do Make Say Think – You, You’re a History in Rust
I’ve always found Toronto’s Do Make Say Think had a more organic feel when compared to the calculated approaches by more popular post-rock acts like Explosions in the Sky. These jazz leanings tend to follow when you consider the band being composed of multi-instrumentalists, including two drummers. Whereas most bands just repeat melodies ad nauseam (while ruining future listens), these guys are more about the groove, avoiding meandering compositions, but instead setting out with interesting destinations in mind. The opener “Bound to Be That Way” references Talk Talk’s Laughing Stock, while “The Universe!” hits like a sequel to Broken Social Scene’s “KC Accidental” off You Forgot It In People, which a few members of this band also contributed to. In “A Tender History in Rust”, they literally get their pastoral on. The band’s segues are pretty seamless as they jump between genres song by song. That’s all.
Modest Mouse – We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
Like …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead did with 2005′s Worlds Apart, Modest Mouse had done with 2004′s Good News For People Who Love Bad News, a lean away from experimentation that may have driven off some of the indie kids. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing; those fuckers. The Mouse continues on the same trajectory, releasing the pre-album single “Dashboard” that made old school fans twinge at its radio accessibility. Singer Isaac Brock still has that massive shouting lisp that makes the band so unique. How cruel is it to put an ‘s’ into “lisp”? While the songs don’t balance hooks with disorientation as much as the past, entries like “Florida” and “Fly Trapped in a Jar” are bound to get your pasty ass moving. The lonely horn in “Spitting Venom” highlights likely the most epic song on the album, however “Parting of the Sensory” is the best song in the bunch with a sorrowful violin-led intro crescendoing into a country shindig with with a cacophony of plucked acoustic guitar, voices, hand-claps, and foot stomps. It’s no drugged-out The Moon & Antarctica, but at least they’re going forward.
Composed of two members from mclusky and bassist from Jarcrew, this Wales noisy post-hardcore act made probably the most immediate and irreverent record last year. They are a three-piece where guitar is the furthest instrument from the mix, with an overdriven, fuzzy bass sound made so popular by From Death Above 1979 (MSTRKRFT sure does suck). The lyrics seem to have a political bent, but for the most part they’re more a series of disconnected words that sound funny together. The point-of-view is really a continuation of mclusky’s fist-pumping, basement dirty punk with some synthesizers thrown into the mix. It’s in the tradition of Big Black, whose member Steve Albini had engineered mclusky’s final album The Difference Between Me and You is That I’m Not On Fire.
Maybe Canada doesn’t suck after all? I have my own opinions about my homeland’s cultural cringe when it comes to media, but acts like Holy Fuck are the exception. Most electronic instrumental-only acts use meticulous studio tweaking to realize their finished products, but these guys attain their goals through improvisation, including a live band with two drummers. You can call it a mash-up of styles, collage of disparate sources, or a cornucopia of sonic interweaving; I just think it’s a fun listen. Now at the start of the song “Safari”… is that… Blades of Steel?
Over the past five-plus years, German label Hymen Records has been coming out with the best electronic music around. With their namesake being a play on a reference from Philip K. Dick’s novel “A Scanner Darkly”, Substanz T is no exception from Hymen’s roster, exploring drum’n'bass and dub mixed with psychedelica in an industrial setting. While technoïd may not yet officially be a music genre, this act’s originality is unmistakable. Beyond E is even more cinematic in scope from previous affairs, with the dense compositions drawing comparisons to Massive Attack’s Mezzanine, albeit with stronger ambient leanings. The female vocals found on songs “Orbit 32″, “Sonique”, and “Truth” sound a bit like a sparse Madonna at points, but at least it isn’t Sinead O’Connor. This mostly instrumental, bass-heavy downtempo music will be attractive to fans of Amon Tobin, especially for the post-industrial dark ambient tracks found in the latter half of the disc. This is the perfect soundtrack for your cyberpunk dreams.
LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver
While the Internet music nerd press are busy humping each other over this release, I’ll simply claim it’s an enjoyable listen. Nothing more. It’s post-modern! Ironic! Self-aware! Contemporary! Of the times! Non-serious seriousness! Political apolitical! Androgynous! SmörgÃ¥sbord of genre! Contextualized dance music with a brain! Eh? At least the John Cale cover of “All My Friends” from its iTunes-only EP gets rid of the annoying piano loop.
If I wrote this piece at the end of 2007, Spoon’s latest album would’ve been much higher on my list. However, principal songwriter Britt Daniel’s less-is-more approach to indie pop isn’t quite as transcendental after multiple listens as I originally interpreted. Damn me and my thinking. At a length of 36.5 minutes and with most cuts hitting 3 minutes, at least this album is catered toward my ADHD oh-something-shiny frame of mind found on most days. 2002′s Kill the Moonlight was likely the band’s most experimental record although this album gives it a run for its money, while still staying fairly accessible. Horns (“You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb”), flamenco guitar (“My Little Japanese Cigarette Case”), and a three-piece brass section in the awesome lead single “The Underdog” all accentuate the band’s unique take on pop music. The up-front use of groovy basslines and often-used echo recall dub music (see the LCD Soundsystem-”All My Friends”-ish repeating piano noted “The Ghost of You Lingers”) while being grounded by Daniel whose voice reminds me of Stereophonics’ Kelly Jones, except not as nasally. I can see people drawing parallels of the band’s development to Wilco’s musical approach, although without country… and not close to as popular… or as good. But there are parallels!
