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March 11,2010
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| -------------------------------- Below you'll find an alphabetized archive of releases that were previously featured in our monthly Parasol Five-Star. At the end of the listing you'll also see an archive of the Critic's Corner segments from the Five Star. As these releases age, they also become increasingly hard to restock. Because of this, a few of these titles will no longer be available from Parasol. Nonetheless, these are some of our favorite releases over the past few years, so we'll continue to do our very best to stock as many of these titles as possible. To check for immediate availability of these titles visit the Parasol Catalog or Artist Search through the front page of our website. If you'd like us to special order an out of stock item, e-mail us at parasol@parasol.com and we'll try our very best to get it for you! Because these descriptions appear as originally written for the Five Star, the time shift between MY writing & YOUR reading may seem unusual. A mention of a "forthcoming record" may actually now indicate a record that's been out for a few months... don't sweat it. Thanks + enjoy, Bill -------------------------------- Absinthe Blind "Music For Security" (Hammerhead) CD Music For Security is the third full-length release from this Champaign-Urbana 6-piece who pack local university nightclubs with devout fans. Throughout you'll find slick, soaring, atmospheric rock epics indebted to Radiohead and steeped in the history of 80/90s anthemic rockers. American Football's Steve plays trumpet & Moon Seven Times' Brendan the timpani, but here they are merely players. Absinthe Blind have scripted every action - with great results. A majestic quietude, equally transcendent bombast, tender vocals, and shimmering arrangements from Parasol's own backyard. -------------------------------- Aden "Hey 19" (Teenbeat) CD New quiet guitar pop from Washington, DC's quiet guitar poppers, Aden, riding the frothy crest of vocalist Jeff Gramm's endearing and most beautiful voice. Gramm is joined by bandmates Fred Kovey (bass) and Kevin Barker (lead guitar) and guests drummer John Blaha from The Aluminum Group and Mark Greenberg from The Coctails and Archer Prewitt's band who plays vibes. Very pretty, sparse-yet-spacious, melodic pop slickly produced by Dave Trumfio (Wilco, Billy Bragg, Cibo Matto). Hey 19 sounds terrific, the production is crystal clear and the playing is clean and lilting. It's the band's third and most assured record yet and obviously benefits from increased confidence in songwriting and performance, beginning to end. -------------------------------- All Natural Lemon & Lime Flavors "self-titled (+ 4)" (Gern Blandsten) CD I bought a single by this unknown New Jersey band in 1997 and just loved it. Shortly thereafter when shopping for used CDs, I found a disc with a nondescript cover simply stating All Natural Lemon & Lime Flavors. Surely this couldn’t be the same band, could it? The price was right, so a took a shot at it. Not only was it the same band, but it was now my favorite new band! There was an address inside and the rest is history. This is a remastered reissue (now with 4 bonus tracks) of that out-of-print, self-tiled debut that we unearthed for our customers in the Summer of ‘97. These were the first “official” recordings from the Flavors recorded in 1995 when all of the band members were between 19-21 years old. Originally issued in a pressing of 500 copies (of which Parasol customers own about ½), the music here is a beautifully textured hybrid of Rocketship, Buddha On The Moon, The Lassie Foundation, The Swirlies and My Bloody Valentine - luscious dreampop with a swirl of guitars and an a ndrogynous male vocal. -------------------------------- All Natural Lemon & Lime Flavors "Straight Blue Line" (Gern Blandsten) CD A posthumous singles/compilation/extras compendium from one of my very favorite bands. While a number of solid dreampop/noisepop bands have surfaced over the past few years, the Flavors employed an imaginative songwriting, arrangement, and production style that set them apart from the rest of the pack. A wonderfully lush gush of effects-laden guitars and keys, androgynous vocals, stratospheric pink-noise popsongs culled from their Hidden Agenda (that's us!), Gern Blandsten, and Rocket Science 7" singles finally released on CD plus a cut from a Masstransfer compilation and 3 previously unreleased tracks. Shoegazer with a twist! Highly recommeded to fans of My Bloody Valentine, Secret Shine, The Lassie Foundation, & The Melody Unit. Also available is the recent CD/LP by ANL&LF side project Jett Brando. -------------------------------- American Football "Self-Titled" (Polyvinyl) CD Full-length debut from trio led by Mike Kinsella whose resume includes Cap'n Jazz, Joan Of Arc, and (the pre-Very Secretary band) The One-Up Downstairs. American Football showcases cleanly picked guitars, intricate drumming, and sincere vocals while incorporating pop hooks, jazz timing, and a rock sensibility. Intelligent arrangements range from sparse and subtle to forceful and driving as interweaving patterns and pleasant vocals highlight the disc. It's a great record and I'm not just saying that because they live within rock-throwing distance of Parasol. -------------------------------- Antarctica "81:03" (File 13) Double-CD NYC quintet Antarctica follow-up their 1998 CDEP with this stunning full-length. Shoegazing guitar glides, prodding bass and keyboard riffs, Bonham-esque drums, and refined vocal harmonies set the stage for the band's new found fascination with electronica. While still maintaining a dark pop sensibility, Antarctica has found atmosphere - delivering long songs that give you time to stretch into needed spaces. Twinkling electronics do not betray the band's (presumed) new wave roots as echoes of the swooning, syncopated pop of New Order and late period The Cure intermingle with the deep hypnotics of Underworld and the atmospheric pulse of Orbital. Ripe with these elements and other organic beats and drifting tones, 81:03 also displays fragments of Antarctica's indie heritage (ex-Christie Front Drive and others) both in its driving presence and traditional pop structure. Lush, dynamic, and textured, Antarctica's music captures the essence of both the rock and electronic worlds. -------------------------------- The Apples in stereo "Look Away" (spinArt/Elephant 6) CD-EP Look Away is the first single from The Apples' upcoming The Discovery Of A World Inside The Moone. The four B-sides included here were previously bonus tracks from Japanese CD releases, but Robert tells us that these mixes are slightly different and better! -------------------------------- The Apples in stereo "The Discovery Of A World Inside The Moone" (spinART-Elephant Six) CD They've done it again! They've topped their great last album with an even better one by taking us on a kaleidoscopic rollercoaster ride of classic bubblegum pop filtered though a smidge of R&B and really, really wonderful production rooted in a reverence for 1967. Defining and redefining a sound that is deeply inspired by Phil Spector and Brian Wilson, only this time Robert says "add Led Zeppelin and Sly & The Family Stone dancing around a theremin." The finest songs they've ever recorded, Hilarie gets to sing more, which is great, and the weirdness gets weirder, pushing Pop's envelope again! While Bikeride's "37 Secrets" set the tone for the Summer of 1999, "The Discovery Of A World Inside The Moone" will set toes tapping for summer fun in 2000. -------------------------------- Jon Auer "The Perfect Size EP" (Houston Party-SPAIN) CD-EP This 5 song import EP from the co-leader of The Posies has been on auto-repeat in the office in an attempt to fool ourselves into thinking it's a full length CD. More wonderful, inventive pop! By making use of the lyric "This Sounds Like Goodbye," Jon's CD-EP is the perfect companion piece to his former bandmate Ken Stringfellow's solo debut of the same name. Ken's "Goodbye" is a featured selection from our Label of the Month for September (see reverse for details). -------------------------------- The Autocollants "Why Couldn't Things Just Stay The Same?" (Shelflife) CD Sweet, airy female vocals float above strummy guitars, steady drums, and appealing horns on this posthumous collection from The Autocollants. The disc spanning 1996-1999 compiles 10 tracks from previous releases on Rover, Tinseltones, K7, Shelflife, Drive-In, and Cher Doll with 3 previously unreleased songs. Singer Laura and drummer/horn player/etc. Dwayne recently formed Cartwheel (we have their 7-inch single) and Laura also sings with Casino Ashtrays. Very nice stuff! -------------------------------- Bardo Pond "Set and Setting" (Matador) CD/LP Bardo Pond have been carving out their own distinct niche on the stoner-rock landscape with an effusive tide of distorted guitars, both soothing and mindbending simultaneously. Set and Setting, their 5th album, continues to expand the boundaries of rock; weaving the hypnotic drones of Spacemen 3 with the massive tones of vintage Sabbath. Shadowy gobs of feedback and Sonic Youth-esque howling guitar harmonics swell around Isobel's vocals and violin. Excellent stuff (dubbed by Rolling Stone as "liquid distortion erotica") that doesn't fall prey to this genre's greatest nemesis: laziness. -------------------------------- Michael Barrett "Couches and Carpet" (Planting Seeds) CD Couches And Carpet is the solo debut from Ladybug Transistor cohort Michael Barrett, member of The Essex Green and The Sixth Great Lake and former member of Guppyboy. Skipping along parallel paths as some of the Elephant 6 collective, this seems to have a more serene, comfortable, mature grasp of the mellow aesthetic. Michael’s album reminds me most of the stunning We’re All In This Alone album by fellow Brooklynites The Mendoza Line. These songs possess a similar woozy ingenuity driven by co-ed vocals by Michael and helpers Jennifer Karson and Michelle Peltier. The album also mixes 60’s psych (think Love and The Lovin’ Spoonful and Paisley Underground benefactors Rainy Day) and country pop (think The Guthries and Neil Young) with a heady dose of British folk, some near subliminal Bowie-isms and the occasional foray into luscious, spacey orchestral pop that recalls pop-songwriting geniuses like Todd Rundgren and his modern progeny. The whole is interspersed with a headswimming dose of experimental interludes. -------------------------------- The Beach Boys "Sunflower/Surf's Up" (Capitol/Brother) CD I should mention The Beach Boys. Why? Well, because these days everybody mentions The Beach Boys. However, there's rarely much talk of the album Surf's Up which was reissued this week as a 2-on-1 CD with another out-of-print gem, Sunflower (Capitol/Brother Records). Since hearing a few songs from Surf's Up on the band's Box Set and subsequently taping a copy of the album from a friend, it has become one of my very favorite Beach Boys album. I'll concede that there are a few clunkers on the album (shame on you Al & Mike), but upon programming your CD player to avoid the stinkers, you'll find that Surf's Up is an achingly bittersweet, beautiful, evocative, dark listen. It's even more relevant to today's musical climate than the fashions the band collided with in 1971. Essential listening that sounds wondrously current. -------------------------------- Beat Happening "Crashing Through" (K Records) 7xCD box A retrospective compendium from this essential piece of the late-80s/early-90s independent music scene led by K Records founder Calvin Johnson (Dub Narcotic). Crashing Through is a gracious, seven CD box set that includes all five of the BH albums, a sixth album of songs from singles and compilations (including the long out of print Beat Happening/Screaming Trees 12” and last year¹s "Angel Gone" 45), plus an exclusive 7th CD-ROM thingy with loads of video, etc. All of the packaging for the CDs has been redesigned as beautiful six-panel digipak foldouts to include additional photographs of the band, and there’s a 96 page book by Lois Maffeo! -------------------------------- Belle And Sebastian "Lazy Line Painter Jane Box Set" (Matador) 3xCD This budget-priced box set compiles Belle And Sebastian's first three EPs, hitherto available only as imports. It includes the Lazy Line Painter Jane, Dog On Wheels, and 3, 6, 9 Seconds Of Light EPs packaged in a lovely cardboard slipcase with new artwork, containing full-size jewelcases. A domestic re-release intended to hold-off rabid fans until the May-June release of the band's new studio album. -------------------------------- Belle And Sebastian "Tigermilk" (Matador) CD/LP Reissue of the legendary debut LP from this astounding Glaswegian band. Tigermilk, the class project of students in a Stowe College music industry course, is one of the most sought after albums in recent memory. Legions of fans have been trading cassettes of this masterpiece fervently as word of the band spread like wildfire. Now the masses can marvel along with the insiders at a truly delightful album of unabashed pop without pretention. I never imagined the record would be as good as the hype surrounding it, but am overjoyed to say it is. -------------------------------- Jay Bennett & Edward Burch "The Palace At 4AM (Part 1)" (Undertow) CD Jay Bennett played guitar and wrote songs for Wilco through Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and therefore gets the bonus of having two records come out on the same day. His collaboration with Edward Burch, The Palace At 4AM (Part 1), is another must-have. -------------------------------- Best Boy Electric "Songs Of Latitude And Longitude" (Grand Theft Autumn) CD Subtle, minimalist shadow-pop undertow from this Madison, Wisconsin quartet featuring former Low guitarist John Nichols. The apple hasn't fallen far from the tree in this case as you can expect deft, delicate guitar and keyboard interplay, sleepwaltzing rhythms, and sheer lyrics riding a quiet crest of hyperbole. Cinematic pop with luscious slow-motion melodies, oceanic guitar-based atmospheres, deep basslines, sultry brushed snare, and dreamy vocals. Aural incandescence recommended to fans of Low, early American Analog Set, and Very Secretary. -------------------------------- Black Box Recorder "The Facts Of Life" (Jetset) CD Here’s the follow-up to the striking debut (England Made Me) by this enigmatic Brit trio comprised of the haunting, fragile voiced chanteuse Sarah Nixey, Luke Haines (Autuers), & John Moore (Jesus And Mary Chain). Eleven songs of strange & incandescent beauty spanning a broad range of classic topics: love, sex, suicide & death. Nixey’s vocals provide the focal point as her Sarah Cracknell-esque purr softens the album’s often morose subject matter. Sordid tales of adolescent sexuality, children drowning, and the like are set to a music fitting somewhere between Air & a barbiturate-fuelled Saint Etienne as big time sensuality meets the computer crafted precision of her esteemed collaborators. -------------------------------- Black Tambourine "Complete Recordings, 1989-1991" (Slumberland/Fantastic) CD & 10" A mini-supergroup from the early Slumberland roster, they played a dark, fuzz-drenched pop that drew as much from doo-wop and 60s (Spector/girl group) pop as from 80s sources such as the Creation/Subway/Postcard Records' scenes, Galaxie 500, and - certainly - the Jesus And Mary Chain. "Complete Recordings" collects this band's sought-after material with single & compilation tracks plus a previously unheard demo. Black Tambourine members boast a shockingly long, ever-growing pedigree including Castaway Stones, Glo-Worm, Velocity Girl, Belmondo, Lilys, Nord Express, Seashell Sea, Heartworms, Shapiros, & Chickfactor fanzine. -------------------------------- The Blue Ontario "New Frequencies EP" (Static Kills) CD Digital companion to previous vinyl-only title from Colorado band featuring ex-Christie Front Drive members Ron Marschall & Jason Begin. Recorded by Robert (Apples In Stereo) Schneider, these 5 tracks (35 minutes) include 2 original mixes along with remixes by Sundog, Christian Rolla, and Chapter 23. A trek into rock hybrid territory swirling together spacerock, psychedelic noise, and new wave in a Spacemen 3 meets Antarctica meets 1991 Creation Records. Other than myself, few will care, but the Christian Rolla remix comes off sounding like Skinny Puppy (hey, that's a good thing!). -------------------------------- Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy "Ease Down The Road" (Palace Records) CD & LP Spring is in the air and Will Oldham is in the mood for love. Louisville’s country crooner lays bare tawdry tales of love, adultery, and infidelity told with his signature fragile, cracked vocals set against a musical backdrop of guitar, organ, spare drumming, and various background vocalists. Oldham has been making music since 1993 through his alter-egos Palace & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy and last year Johnny Cash even covered one of his tunes. Many of Will’s friends joined him for the recording of Ease Down The Road, but his primary accomplice here is longtime pal David Pajo (Aerial-M/Tortoise/Slint). It’s poised to be one of my favorites from Oldham, but be forewarned this record isn’t for the prudish - not that it’s too outrageous, but it does have a couple of eyebrow raisers... -------------------------------- Boss Hog "Whiteout" (In The Red) CD & LP Album #5 featuring ex-Pussy Galore members/husband & wife team Cristina Martinez & Jon Spencer. Blues-based riffs wrap around pop sensibilities (Whiteout is free of the artiness that "damaged" their early work) and bring Cristina's vocals to the forefront. This is an album that (surprise!) actually benefits from its schizophrenic production. Tore Johannson (The Cardigans' producer), Andy Gill (ex-Gang Of 4/recently worked with Bis) and Boss Hog themselves all took a turn at the soundboard each leaving a slightly different imprint. It sounds great and "fans" will be pleased that the Ol' Dirty Bastard cover art parody reflects Cristina's continued disdain for clothing.... -------------------------------- Brian "Bring Trouble" (Setanta UK) CD Brian is the brainchild of songwriter Ken Sweeney. Brian began in 1991 when he released an EP and mini-LP to much critical acclaim. This new album is a highly polished piece of slick, classic pop that's crafted like an unlikely hybrid of The Go-Betweens, Lightning Seeds, Blueboy, New Order, Trembling Blue Stars, East River Pipe, and Duffy. The vocals are intimately embedded in beautiful, wistful melodies accompanied by lush synths, programmed rhythms, and delicate guitar lines. Poetic lyrics touch on love and loss and even the sorrow of the office blahs. Guests include Simon Raymonde & Mitsuo Tate of Cocteau Twins and strings by The High Llamas. -------------------------------- Bright "Eyes Fevers And Mirrors" (Saddle Creek) CD & LP Bright Eyes is an ever-changing entity. It's only constant is singer/songwriter Conor Oberst who with Fevers And Mirrors delivers his most focused and conceptually complete collection of chaotic bedroom pop to date. With brutal honesty and ingenious storytelling Conor proves his talent at combining well-crafted lyrics with haunting music and melodies to produce songs that are manic, depressing, honest, and inspiring. Dark, skewed pop employing a wide variety of sounds, an earnest vocal approach, and soul-baring lyrical catharsis where Neutral Milk Hotel folk-isms meet weird Gorky's Zygotic Mynci-esque prog. A harrowing self-examination - mostly longing, a little loathing - with a Will Oldham/Palace-like white-heat intensity that's not for faint of heart passersby. With darkly poetic lyrics that have me reaching for the lyric sheet, Fevers And Mirrors grows more compelling with each listen... "But you tear and tear your hair from roots/From that same head you have twice removed/A lock of hair you said would prove/Our love would never die/As I sing and sing of awful things/The pleasure that my sadness brings/As my fingers press onto the strings/You get another clumsy chord." -------------------------------- Brittle Stars "Self-Titled" (Shelflife) CD Nice debut from Florida's Brittle Stars (they're the same folks that run Clairecords, too!). Dreamy female vocals float upon layers of keyboards and guitars creating a light, shoegazer-y wash that reminds of a mix of Rocketship, Lush, and Northern Picture Library. The music is noisy enough to please Henry's Dress fans and catchy enough for indiepop fans. Estelle's gorgeous lighter-than-air voice has been favorably compared to Karolina Club 8, Judith Adventures In Stereo, Julia Acid House Kings, Jana Majestic 12 and Annemari Field Mice (etc!). -------------------------------- Brokeback "Field Recordings From The Cook County Water Table" (Thrill Jockey) CD/LP An exploration of rhythm & textures from Douglas (Tortoise/11th Dream Day/Pullman) McCombs wherein his 6-string bass provides the album's backbone. His goal was to keep things simple and to let the melodies hang in the air. The result is sparse, low key instrumentals with a sense of space. Albeit a "solo" project, many guests grace the album. Stereolab's Mary Hansen provides vocals on The Great Banks - a reworking of Tortoise's Along The Banks Of Rivers. Tortoise colleagues John McEntire & John Herndon also contribute along with members of Chicago Underground Orchestra, Sam Prekop's band, and Town & Country. -------------------------------- The Butterflies Of Love "How To Know" (Secret 7/Fortuna Pop) CD & LP Hypnotizingly beautiful guitar-pop glimmerama from Connecticut's Daniel & Jeffrey Greene (no relation) rendered as magnificent, fuzzy, neo-psychedelic, country-pop with loads of blissful reverb! Like Galaxie 500 meets The Go-Betweens, Those Bastard Souls meets The Dirty 3, or this year's Yo La Tengo meets the mid-80s Dream Syndicate. Pure guitar-pop shoegaze genius with a bit of help from special guest Mark (Miracle Legion) Mulcahy. Also slated for an upcoming split 7" with the Apples in stereo. -------------------------------- Captain Audio "Luxury Or Whether It Is Better To Be Loved Than Feared" (Last Beat) CD From the grassy knolls of Dallas Texas, Captain Audio returns with their first full-length, an epic, awe-inspiring collection of dayglo psychedelic pop and freaky Americana ballads, dives headfirst in the deep end... For fans of mid-period Flaming Lips/Mercury Rev's majestic hallucinogenic bombast, trippy "Diamond Dogs" era David Bowie, the lullabies of Kurt Weill, all wrapped up in a 60s style Wall Of Sound... The line-up: Singer/guitarist Regina Chellew played guitar in Ruby (among others), singer/multi-instrumentalist Brandon Curtis used to play in UFOFU, and drummer Josh Garza was a member of Comet. -------------------------------- C-Clamp "Longer Waves" (Ohio Gold) CD Longer Waves is the sophomore outing from this Chicago trio boasting bassist Nick (Euphone/Heroic Doses/etc.) Macri. The album is highlighted by the band's easy interplay between cascading, intricately woven guitars and supple rhythms. Three years following their debut, Longer Waves benefits from added studio proficiency (C-Clamp now "experiments" with modern innovations like "overdubs," "keyboards," & "vocal harmonies"), but the real payoff from the hiatus is their increased vocal presence. Dual, layered, lulling vocals provide a focal point to the disc; a beacon as the music crests, cradles, and washes over you. Stellar slowburn pop for fans of Castor, American Analog Set, and Chicago instrumentalists. -------------------------------- The Chamber Strings "Month Of Sundays" (Bobsled) CD & LP Month Of Sundays is the sophomore CD by this Chicago-based band led by Kevin Junior who has played with Rosehips (US), Mystery Girls, Epic Soundtracks, Nikki Sudden, and June & The Exit Wounds. He’s assembled a top notch band featuring ex-members of Lava Sutra and Panda along with producer Thom Monahan (Pernice Brothers/Scud Mountain Boys/The Lilys) for the release and they really shine here. Elizabeth Elmore (Sarge) and John Stirratt (Wilco) are among the guests who also perform on the album. The Chamber Strings deliver soulful, orchestral pop accented by string and brass arrangements and pure melodic sophistication that will appeal to the many fans of Parasol’s very own June & The Exit Wounds. The classic pop production of the disc draws it’s influence from the work of Phil Spector, while the music echoes pop’s biggies: The Raspberries, Badfinger, Brian Wilson and Todd Rundgren. The devastating loss of Kevin Junior’s longtime mentor and friend Epic Soundtracks surfaces in the lyric s for the elegiac “Our Dead Friends.” The first single “Make It Through The Summer” (co-written with Stirratt) is also available on CD-single with 2 non-LP tracks. -------------------------------- Chappaquiddick Skyline "Self-titled" (Sub Pop) CD When his brother Bob left the group, Joe Pernice and his remaining bandmates - once known collectively as the Pernice Brothers - opted for a name change for accuracy's sake. But by the album's opening line ("I hate my life") the familiar melancholy of Joe's past work in the Pernice Bothers and Scud Mountain Boys quickly resurfaces. The disc is brimming with melody-rich, acoustic-based pop songs with a pinch more morose lyrical content and a tad more sparseness than found in previous outings. While Chappaquiddick Skyline cover New Order's "Leave Me Alone" and borrow lyrics from The Beach Boys' "God Only Knows," the ache remains the same. -------------------------------- Citizen Bird "Self Titled" (Stinky Records) CD While I’ll not likely put ‘em at #1 in my Best Of 2002 list (hi Doleful Lions, Kevin Tihista, Club 8…), I will testify that they shook me to the core at a recent live show — a jarring experience that left me gasping for air. I’m begging them to open up for Trail Of Dead, just so they can blow ‘em off the stage. Volatile, cathartic music with an intense presence at the microphone… Here's Jim's rave: "A cosmic solitude inside my heart… The Best Album of 2002, no fooling. Hailing from Gothenburg, Sweden (of course), home to fellow rock gods The Soundtrack of Our Lives, the eerie-eyed lads in Citizen Bird (known as Silverbullit in Sweden) have created thee most brilliant headfuck of an album that you will hear this year. A livid meteor storm of Mensa-intelligent future-pop, bombastic psychedelic strobe-rock guitar-mesmerism, and kosmiche krautrock-inspired propulsion, it is without a doubt The Best Album of 2002, and I can say that in April without blinking. Neu! meets Pink Floyd meets Spiritualized meets The Silver Apples meets The Stooges meets Joy Division meets The Doors, and this quintet has the honor of being both the quietest and the loudest band you will ever hear. From hypnotic earlobe-tickling ambience to hallucinatory jaw-dropping zoomrock, a dynamic so planet-sized your aura will intensify and your eyes will roll back in your head and you will wonder if they’ll ever roll forward again… While you’re suitably indisposed you can enjoy, as I have, what spooky/beautiful/magnetic frontman/freak/vocalist Simon Olsson calls “a cosmic solitude inside my heart.” So, if you’re a fan of Sigur Ros and The Strokes (on acid), The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Stereolab, recreational drug use and great sex, how can you not like this?" -------------------------------- Claudia Malibu "We'll Find You" (Wormco) CD Brilliant 60s space-pop/smart-pop from The Veronica Cartwrights and The Caroline Know folks, including the DeBarge sisters Leslie and Yvonne, Captain Luke Cavagnac of Lucky Pierre, Jeremy Marusek of New Radiant Storm King and Stephen Rand & his Magic Ponies... Exquisite pop songs with just a splash of space-rock's cosmic rays, jangling guitars, Peter Holsapple-esque vocals, luscious female harmonies, classic Kinks styled songs, some "She's A Rainbow" era Rolling Stones wonderfulness, the whole lot blessed with painterly strokes of noise and atmosphere. -------------------------------- Club 8 "Love In December" (Mushroom Pillow) CDEP & 7-inch vinyl Remix EP on the Spanish label Mushroom Pillow. -------------------------------- Cody "Stillpoint Primer" (Shinkansen UK) CD Stillpoint Primer is the debut album from this Oxford-based quartet. The album demonstrates Cody's ability to mix avant-garde experimentalism (their live set-up features sequencer, synthesizer, tone-generator, three vocalists, two guitars and a slide-show) with soaring choruses, the purest of pop tunes, and words that actually mean something. Or, to quote the band's own press-release: with a fondness for both the motorised dynamics of post-rock and the exhilarating effects of pop-music on the brain, Cody reject pointless experimental widdling in favour of attention-grabbing, genre-trashing, silver-plated pulse-pop. Hardly surprising, therefore, that last year's Rounder EP contrived to receive praise not just from the pop press, but also from the respected elder-statesman of the pop avant-garde, Wire's Colin Newman. The album was recorded using the band's own new home-studio and thus freed from the pressures of time and money (not to mention the hands of unsympathetic engineers) they 've been able to produce a much more elaborate, multi-layered, multi-textured sound, and develop their ideas to the full. Previous comparisons to Wire are balanced by the allure of outfits like Air, My Bloody Valentine, Daft Punk, Kraftwerk, Stereolab and the Cocteau Twins - all names which spring to mind as house and techno beats mingle effortlessly with meltingly melancholy guitars and fuzzed-up flurries of feedback. Alongside the throbbing rhythms of tracks nestle haunting, achingly beautiful pop choruses. The album is filled with dreamy guitars and melodic, subdued vocals merged with an electronic pulse and sleek execution resembling that of Antarctica's 81:03. This 10 song, enhanced CD also contains a multimedia section featuring images from the slide-show that forms an integral part of the band's live performance, together with reprocessed sound samples from the individual songs. -------------------------------- Lloyd Cole "The Negatives" (March/At-Source) CD Sixteen years into his career and Lloyd Cole is still causing a commotion. On The Negatives you’ll find him backed by a full rock band - including Jill Sobule and former Dambuilders bassist Dave Derby. -------------------------------- Consonant "Consonant" (Fenway) CD Speaking of Mission Of Burma, Clint Conley has assembled a new band and this is a very worthwhile listen. It's good to hear his singing again. -------------------------------- Cosmic Rough Riders "Enjoy The Melodic Sunshine" (Poptones - UK) CD Glaswegian 5-piece Cosmic Rough Riders offer up a delightful album of top notch psychedelic-folk-rock. Great stuff that avoids unsavory lyrics about faerie magick and toadstools and other such album destroyers while playing a killer blend of classic country-tinged pop and folk-rock a la George Harrison/Beatles/Byrds/Beach Boys/Eagles/Stone Roses (I think the singer sounds like Ian Brown). Do you like The Beachwood Sparks, the 2nd Soundtrack Of Our Lives album, and Delta? Then you’ll like this. It’s got a great flow to it. It’s easy & encompassing, strummy & infectious, and as the title claims melodic. Very nice! -------------------------------- John Cunningham "Homeless House" (Les Disques Mange-tout) CD Overcast, bittersweet pop from former La-Di-Da Records solo artist and Liverpool native who also played in The Curtain Twitchers with Jane from the Marine Girls in the mid-80s. Heartbreaking romanticism that rides delicate swells of inconsolable melodies, dreamy guitar chords, lush strings, weeping organs, and subtle woodwinds, led by a frail, but a magically warm voice. Poetic, soul-searching lyrics met with beautiful music punctuated by piano and horns. This is a superb album akin to the esteemed work of artists like Nick Drake, John Lennon, Mark Hollis, & Richard Davies. It also suggests those sad, sad songs from the late-60s/early-70s Beach Boys and (to those of us who are in-the-know) a melancholy version of June & The Exit Wounds. "Homeless House" is a classy, captivating record that will appeal to those who cherish songs of heartache. Don't get me wrong. This isn't a Cure record. It's pop. Pop full of sorrowful wonder... a record that will be there for you when you need it. Cunningham has struck a universal chord here that will appeal to a wide spectrum of listeners. So, from the pure popster, to the Sarah Records devotee, to the guy who gets angry when we use the word "emo" (I know, I'm sorry), to you & me this comes very, very highly recommended. -------------------------------- Warn Defever "I Want You To Live 100 Years" (Lo Recordings UK) CD A solo outing from this highly regarded engineer and member of His Name Is Alive/ESP Summer. "I Want You..." is Warn's typically eccentric foray into the world of alt-country (?!) reminiscent of early, countrified Beck meets Will Oldham with Defever's undeniably unique imprint on things. A low key, mainly acoustic collection of 12 songs inter-cut with surreal film dialogue and overlaid with surface noise. Decidedly lo-fi & fucked; simple, strange, and wonderful. Why not toss in a Willie Nelson cover, too? Done. -------------------------------- Deluxe "Not What You Had Thought" (Mushroom Pillow) CD Spanish pop band Deluxe does guitar-pop with a narcotic lungful of psychedeliaand loads of baroque studio invention… If you're a fan of The Smiths more expansive, super-produced moments (like 'Louder Than Bombs'), you'll love Deluxe, not because there's a flounce singing like Morrissey, but for all the other reasons: supremely focused talents, incredible guitars, awesome arrangements, that special somethingsomething! They really believe in what they’re doing, and you will too, you lucky ducky. The album opens with a sitar-crazed Stone Roses shimmy, "Looking Through the Hole", while later on "I'll See You In London" could be the long lost Smiths single, absolutely amazing! And for all the reasons mentioned above this is a band whose singles you must own all of (see below). For fans of The Smiths, The Beatles, Orange Peels, Supergrass, Stone Roses, Kevin Tihista… -------------------------------- The Delgados "The Great Eastern" (Mantra/Chemikal Underground/Beggars Banquet) CD Once a fully operational textile mill, then a hostel for men, the 18th Century building known as the Great Eastern still exists today as a hostel for the homeless, drug addicted and alcoholic. It also sets the stage for the 3rd album from this ever-evolving, ever-improving Glaswegian band. Sketches of tormented souls who bury their problems deep within themselves (thankfully only one of our characters literally buries his "problems") give the listener a glimpse into the inspiring madness with oblique/disjointed/poetic lyrics and off-kilter, unbalanced pop merged with folk influences. The carefully considered guitar, orchestrated strings and flute, mournful male and female vocals, rumbling rhythms and interwoven lyrics were recorded by Tony Doogan (Belle & Sebastian, etc) and mixed by Dave Fridman (Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, Mogwai, etc) to wonderful effect. This is the first Fridman-related project subsequent to the release of the Lips' miraculous The Soft Bulletin in which I hear the ingenious production work that is that album's hallmark. Alternately symphonic and see-sawing, this one may have those with weaker constitutions reaching for the Dramamine (or perhaps something a little stronger). Picture Novak at their most cathartic filtered through The Soft Bulletin. -------------------------------- Do Make Say Think "Goodbye Enemy Airship The Landlord Is Dead" (Constellation - CAN) CD & LP Cool new album from this Toronto outfit. While the record is bookended by the band's inimitable psych-rock explosions and explorations, much of the material here is more reflective and experimental than on their debut, with an increased referencing of jazz influences (modal horn passages, chilled-out tempos). Sparse, Slint-strumental guitar plucking is met with clanging drones and effected squalls a la Mogwai, a driving pulse, lulling grooves, electronic squiggles, and atmospheric whirlygigs. The music moves, glides, twists, and doesn't fall prey to the instrumentalists' mis-step of out-thinking the songwriting process. Ultimately, Do Make Say Think remain very much a rock band, devoted to brash riffing and blissful repetition, but moving towards more sublime dynamics and harmonics. -------------------------------- Dumptruck "Terminal" (Devil In The Woods) CD Coming out of the mid-80s Boston scene, Dumptruck's career has been stunted by turmoil & unjust legal wrangling, so a new album is indeed cause for celebration! Seth Tiven reemerges with his smooth vocals masking oh-so-bitter lyrics amid a tangle of melodically weaving guitars. Dumptruck mesh melancholic American pop with both anger and warmth in a way that searches to reconcile the two (with the exception of flat-out rocker "Tear It Down," it's not reconciling anything!). Already a Dumptruck lover? Try George Usher's "Dutch April" CD! -------------------------------- Dumptruck "Lemmings Travel To The Sea" (Devil In The Woods) DCD Sometimes it’s just nice to hear the voice of an old friend. This month we reunite with three of them: Dumptruck, The Silos, and Lloyd Cole. Dumptruck have had their trials and tribulations over their career, but it’s comforting to have this Austin-via-Boston, Seth Tiven led band steadily releasing albums again. Lemmings... pairs the band’s new studio CD with a full-length bonus disc of live material recorded at CBGB’s in 1986 & 1988. -------------------------------- d-rez "in8" (dRezin) CD Brilliant art-pop dramas recalling the most humungous British 80s/90s anthem rock and - once you get around the name and album title - you'll find a bounty of gorgeous, dramatic pop-rock-dreamery from this superlative-worthy Austin, Texas band. Androgynous female vocals (not girly in the least) and co-ed harmonies, propulsive guitars, horns, waltzing rhythms & straight-up rave-ups produced with maximum sonic candlepower in mind. For fans of Radiohead, Starflyer 59, & Lassie Foundation. -------------------------------- East River Pipe "The Gasoline Age" (Merge) CD You're just barely greeted with the lyrics "shiny, shiny pimpmobile" when you realize that it's your old offbeat pal F.M. Cornog returning for another run at loner-pop immortality. Ringing guitars and reverbed vocals with lush background sounds paint the backdrop for these tales of characters walking along the fringes of life, flirting with emptiness, disaster, and fleeting moments of happiness. The Gasoline Age follows the one man band's same musical recipe for fragile beauty as sampled previously on releases from Merge, Ajax, Sarah, Shinkansen, and Hell Gate. -------------------------------- Electro Group "A New Pacifica" (Omnibus) CD/LP Beautifully melodic indie dream pop meets wall of noise sonic dissonance head on. Ethereal vocals woven into a blanket of distortion & catchy pop prowess. Reminiscent of Brittle Stars, The Lassie Foundation, All Natural Lemon & Lime Flavors and especially indebted to My Bloody Valentine, this trio takes the late 80's shoegazer sound a step into the future with falsetto vocals, intermittent guitar jangle, and driving, off-timed drumming (think more recent Unwound), & an affinity for electronic loops, moog & samples mixed into the layers. Includes ex-Rocketship member Tim Jacobsen! -------------------------------- The Essex Green "Everything Is Green" (Kindercore/Elephant 6) CD Elephant 6 alchemists, The Essex Green recreate the sounds of late 60s with their full-length debut of dreamy, psychedelic, paisley pop with folky overtones and shared male and female singing. A fun listen that's more light than dark - more Donovan than Barrett - these players include Jeffrey and Sasha of The Ladybug Transistor as well as members who have played with The Sixth Great Lake, The Silver Jews, Guppyboy, and Jim O' Rourke. -------------------------------- The Essex Green "Self-titled" (Elephant 6) CDEP or 12-inch A catchy, very hummable listen featuring Jeffrey Baron and Sasha Bell of The Ladybug Transistor playing dreamy, psychedelic, paisley pop with folky overtones and shared male and female singing. Magical mystery pop pre-dating the recording of their Everything Is Green record and largely benefitting from this release's short-form. Every one of these five tracks are winners including the terrific New Orleans and a gorgeous tune about a beloved feline who's 100% cat, Chester. -------------------------------- Flake Music "When You Land Here, It's time To Return" (Omnibus) CD Many of you already know that Flake Music morphed into the wildly popular band The Shins. Those who didn’t, now do too. -------------------------------- Flying Saucer Attack "Mirror" (Drag City) CD & LP Dave Pearce returns with the most diverse and coherent Flying Saucer Attack album to date. Eleven proper songs, no instrumental filler, better recording, better melodies, better singing and yet, perhaps sadly for some, no sell out. Styles include one straight acoustic song, a traditional folk melody re-write, one Chemical Brothers pastiche, one Can rip-off, one Tom Rapp tribute, and two jungle rhythm-based songs all balanced together as a seamless whole. Shimmering waves of hypnotic drone and fuzzed-out exploration blend with almost-techno rhythms and manic-depressive beats. The result? A droning, shuffling masterpiece of pastoral psych that's part dreamy, part total abrasion. -------------------------------- Fonda "The Invisible Girl" (Top Quality) CD Debut from LA based pop band highlighted by British singer Emily Cook. The Invisible Girl offers a healthy dose of punchy, peppy female-sung pop with twinkling keyboards, melodic guitar lines, and great production. Breezy, effervescing electro-pop angularities spangled with luscious melodies, the buzz of vintage organs and slinky keyboards, layers of guitars, and angelic-with-an-attitude vocal acrobatics. Equal parts Heavenly, Elastica, and Bis make this one great! Also features guitarist/producer David Newton from 80s favorites The Mighty Lemon Drops! -------------------------------- Fonda "Summer Land"/"People and Stars" (Planting Seeds) 7-inch Fonda offer a new single in advance of their upcoming Hidden Agenda full-length! A gorgeous collision of melodic indie-pop and gracious dreampop/shoegazer sonics punctuated by angelic female vocals (not unlike Heavenly's Amelia Fletcher), liquid-cool male vocals, a wash of guitars, and a sturdy beat. -------------------------------- Fosca "The Agony Without The Ecsatsy EP" (Shinkansen) CD-EP Fosca is the latest project of Dickon Edwards, a self-styled "cross between Quentin Crisp and Richey Manic," former songwriter/guitarist with Orlando, ex-leader of Sarah Records recording artists Shelley, and sometime guitarist for Brit-Pop up-and-comers Spearmint. Dickon's backed by Alex Sharkey of former Sarah band Brighter, keyboardist/vocalist Rachel Stevenson and cellist Sheila Butter. 3 tracks of seriously moody guitar-pop with Felt/Denim-ish strums and a groovy White Town-esque electronic bent. Produced by noted arranger/guru Ian Catt who's produced stuff for Trembling Blue Stars, Field Mice, Saint Etienne, Kylie Minogue... -------------------------------- Fosca "On Earth To Make The Numbers Up" (Shinkansen UK) CD Debut full-length from Fosca, led by Dickon Edwards, former songwriter and guitarist for Romo movement dandies Orlando and Sarah Records' act Shelly, he's also played guitar around the world for Spearmint. His band features multi-instrumentalist Alex Sharkey from Brighter (Sarah Records), keyboardist/vocalist Rachel Stevenson and cellist Sheila Butter. Producer Ian Catt (St Etienne, Trembling Blue Stars, Kylie, Shampoo, etc) has blended the lyrical needles and barbs perfectly with the dance beats, keys, guitars and cello that are the hallmark of Fosca's sound. The album moves from the dancefloor friendly, New Order-meets-Bronski Beat "It's Going to End In Tears" to the Blueboy-esque guitar shimmer of "Assume Nothing" to the somberly anthemic "Live Deliberately". Use Felt - or even more so Denim - as your musical reference point as there seems to be a heavy influence of the Lawrence here! -------------------------------- The Free Design "Cosmic Peekaboo" (Marina Germany) CD One of the most idiosyncratic and original groups from the sixties returns: The Free Design - cited as a main influence by artists like Stereolab (who named an entire EP after the group), The High Llamas, Saint Etienne and Cornelius (who reissued their sixties recordings on his own Trattoria label). Cosmic Peekaboo presents the first new material by The Free Design in almost 30 years. Performed by the original line up that recorded their 1967 debut album Kites Are Fun, Cosmic Peekaboo is a complex masterpiece of unique beauty, abstract choral vocal harmonies and truly unusual arrangements of all new original songs. New York City’s The Free Design originally recorded seven albums between 1967 and 1973. Original copies of these albums (issued on the eclectic and influential Project 3 label) are now extremely sought-after and currently change hands for over $50. Interrupting his busy schedule as a composer for TV and film, Free Design main man Chris Dedrick first agreed to a one-off reformation in 2000 to contribute to the Marina compilation of Beach Boys songs, Caroline Now!. This led directly to a full-scale reunion of The Free Design and now Cosmic Peekaboo - an album of wisdom, grace and humor. -------------------------------- From Bubblegum To Sky "Me and Amy and the Two French Boys" (Eenie Meenie) CD & LP We were predisposed to like this album based upon our great love for Mario Hernandez's band Ciao Bella. While still helped out by Jamie McCormick, this is mainly Mario's solo project. Expect buoyant pop with a 60's vibe, great harmonies and hooks augmented by a dose of Busytoby-esque keyboard glimmer and vocal sparring and a smidge of Apples In Stereo fuzziness. -------------------------------- Future Bible Heroes "I'm Lonely (and I Love It)" EP (Merge) CD-EP The Future Bible Heroes are a collaborative effort between Stephin Merritt (Magnetic Fields, Gothic Archies, 6ths) and Christopher Ewen (Figures On A Beach). The music combines Merritt's lyrical acumen with Ewen's synth pop beats & loops to create songs that combine a retro feel of the early 80s with a totally contemporary dance-pop sensibility. Above all, expect songs that are wry, witty, and fun. Four new songs shimmer with Ewan's irresistible synthesizer beats while Merritt and Claudia Gonson (also of Magnetic Fields/6ths) dole out vocals that seemingly drip with irony. As a bonus, the 5th track is a remix of the single "Hopeless" from the Heroes' 1998 full length, Memories Of Love. -------------------------------- Glossary "This Is All We've Learned About Living" (Champ) CD Murfreesboro TN guitar-poppers create expansive, melodic pop epics with snaking electric guitar, acoustic guitars layered so thick they drone, a 6-string symphony fleshed out with farfisa and lap steel, piano, dobro, and accordion, co-ed vocals and harmonies, rootsy boyish vocals courtesy Joey and Jason and the beautiful counterpoint of Maggie's luscious lead voice and dizzying harmonies... Moody indie-pop met head on with minor key bombast, spacey guitar fuzz, and propulsive rhythms, trades heavily in the classic Chapel Hill sound, but downplays the riff-a-rama with a sublime Americana brilliance, a strange, wholesome incandescence. Think The Mendoza Line meets Archers Of Loaf? -------------------------------- godspeed you black emperor! "Lift Your Skinny Like Antennas To Heaven" (Kranky) DCD & DLP Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven is the long awaited second studio album from this Montreal nine piece band comprised of three guitarists, two bassists, two drummers, a violinist and a cellist. Moving from lilting string pieces to piano/guitar duets to pyroclastic guitar and drum interplay, abstract sound collage and field recordings, godspeed you black emperor! have upped the ante and demonstrated their mastery of dynamics and scale. Cinematic, droning, shifting soundscapes from one of the postrock genre's brightest talents; a sprawling epic clocking in at nearly 90 minutes available domestically on Double-CD or on import Double-LP (via Constellation CANADA). -------------------------------- Golden Rough "This Sad Paradise" (Candle) CD Golden Rough follow-up their 1998 Summershine Records debut with a collection of 11 perfect pop songs with finely observed slices of everyday life, set to melodic, richly textured accompaniment, that are as musically inventive as they are examples of a timeless pop songwriting tradition. Although often labeled as country rock, what these Aussie really play isy easy-going power-pop with some sultry sixties style organ, plenty of energy and atmosphere! The album has a very smooth vibe to it that is most readily comparable to Joe Pernice's output (Chappaquiddick Skyline/Pernice Brothers/Scud Mountain Boys). I understand that this appreciation doens't stop at the songs as Golden Rough reportedly served as Joe backing band on a recent Australian tour. Expect top-notch, heartfelt, Aussie-Americana (is their such a beast?) and hear why Golden Rough were recently heralded Best Unsigned Artist at the Australian Music Industry Critics Awards. Not to be overlooked! -------------------------------- Great Lakes "S/T" (Kindercore-Elephant Six) CD Debut of relaxed, head-bobbing pop from Athens, GA three piece mixed by Robert Schneider and featuring requisite guests from the Elephant Six collective (Of Montreal, The Gerbils, etc.). What we have here is a very nice pop record on the mellower side of things. For me it conjures the same kind of Southern comforts as heard in the pastoral music of contemporaries Ladybug Transistor and Kingsbury Manx. Although there is enough extraneous earcandy in the music and production to keeping your smile glowing all afternoon, the album's focus is on hooks, melodies, and 60s/70s soft-pop. Nice! -------------------------------- The Green Pajamas "Ghosts Of Love" (Get Hip) While the consensus around Parasol headquarters is that SOOL are the world's finest rock 'n' roll band, we think the Green Pajamas certainly deserve an honorable mention as one of the consistently best bands from the USA. Not a new album, but a CD reissue of a 1990 LP that still stands up with the rest of the band's exceptional output and sounds just as fresh 10 years later. -------------------------------- Guided By Voices "Suitcase" (Fading Captain) 4CD-Box Set 4 CD Box Set of unreleased "gems" spanning 25 years. 100 songs never before heard with over 4 hours of music. Each box contains 4 full sized jewelcases containing their own art & 34 page perfect bound book containing rare photos, original lyric sheets, set lists, quotes from GBV fans & critics alike. Each song is credited to a different band name depending upon the era during which it was recorded. -------------------------------- The Guthries "Off Windmill" (Brobdingnagian CANADA) CD The Guthries are a band from Halifax, Nova Scotia who create pristine country ballads infused with the lushness of orchestral pop, and lo-and-behold there are members of label mates The Heavy Blinkers involved! In fact, Blinkers songstress Ruth Minnikin is one of The Guthries chief singer-songwriters, Andrew Wyatt engineered the album, and Greg Fry plays drums, while Guthries mainman Dale Murray played pedal steel on the Blinkers' most recent album! Using Sweethearts of the Rodeo era Byrds and Tonight's The Night era Neil Young as their points of departure, The Guthries continue to amble down a trail blazed by the Wilco/Son Volt/No Depression movement. However, they do so with a decidedly pop edge not unlike that displayed in the Byrds-ian jangle of Velvet Crush's Teenage Symphonies To God, the Big Star leanings of The Jayhawks' Sound Of Lies, or the subtle twang of Angie Heaton's Sparkle. While paying homage to these and other like minded artists, The Guthries arguably up the ante by adding elements of classical, Dixieland and dizzying baroque pop to the mix. Theirs is an album replete with timeless songs that run an emotional gauntlet, harkening back to the days of Gram Parsons or Townes Van Zant. Fans of the Cosmic American Music movement, from The Flying Burrito Bros. to Beachwood Sparks, will herald this album as the next chapter of country influenced pop... An incredible album for fans of all music, this comes very highly recommended. -------------------------------- Harper Lee "Go Back To Bed" (Matinée) CD New, unquestionably brilliant debut album from Brighton England duo Harper Lee featuring Keris Howard (of Brighter, Hal and Trembling Blue Stars) on vocals and guitar and collaborator Laura Bridge (of Hood, Boyracer and Kicker) on guitar, keyboards, and drums. Building on the strength of highly praised singles “Dry Land” and “Bug” and a bit of exposure from the John Peel show in England, Harper Lee present 10 soon-to-be-classic tracks of melancholy pop with beautifully layered keyboards and guitars plus heartbreakingly earnest lyrics. -------------------------------- The Heavy Blinkers "Self-titled" (Brobdingnagian - CANADA) CD Brilliant, orchestral, baroque vocal pop from Canada, the Halifax scene's most dreamy, The Heavy Blinkers! 21 sophisticated pop tunes with hues drawn from the late-sixties palette of Beach Boys, Bacharach and Big Star, a shimmering, effervescent sound built up with overdub after overdub and vocals (both male + female) and harmonies galore! Forward-thinking pop of the highest order, where 12-string guitar, piano and drums melt into a late 60s landscape of horns, strings, timpani, vibraphone, theremin, banjo and pedal steel, like Phil Spector producing The Cardigans, Papas Fritas, The Sea & Cake, Outrageous Cherry, The Left Banke and The Zombies in one spacious velvet-walled studio, yet the result is still delectably homespun. Fourteen songs are sublime sonic productions performed by the full band, while the remaining seven tunes are luscious vignettes featuring the various members of the band in intimate, solo environs. -------------------------------- Henry's Dress/Rocketship "split" (I Wish I Was A Slumberland Record) 7" A re-release of this coveted single originally issued for the bands to sell on their joint 1996 tour. To fulfill demand Slumberland has done a very limited, one-time-only repress. The two Henry's Dress songs were both written and sung by Amy and clearly point the way toward her current band, The Aislers Set. The Rocketship song, It's Going To Be Soon, is exclusive to this single and represents one of the few things they've recorded since their lovely A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness album. -------------------------------- Holiday Flyer "You Make Us Go" (Darla) CD/LP You Make Us Go signals the return of brother-sister team John and Katie Conley and Verna (Rocketship/Beanpole/Beanmix) Brock. The trio play catchy, minimalist pop songs with male and female vocals. On the surface everything seems grand, but behind the musical smile hides lyrics of heartbreak, longing, and emptiness - touching and oh-so bittersweet. The mere fact that many of these songs wear a brave face only makes the lyrics sting more. Great stuff for those rainy days when you need to know you're not alone. Leave your 100,000 Fireflies single in it's sleeve and play this record. -------------------------------- Hopewell "The Curved Glass" (Priapus/Tin Drum) CD New album from Upstate NY psych-rock-alchemists Hopewell, led by brothers Jason and Justin Russo of Mercury Rev (Mercury Rev bandmate Grasshopper also provides guest slide guitar & looped signals). Solid, headphone-worthy experiments, from the duo-phonic opening drone of "The Angel is My Watermark" and slinky-pop dirge of "In the Small Places" to the blissful "Lazy Day" and apocalyptic swan song "The Fish," this is a journey into pop music embellished by orchestral swells, feedback guitars and moments of intense, cinematic psychedelia. Ever present in the band's work are trademark Hopewell elements: sing-along anthems, film score soundscapes and subliminal "gets-under-yer-skin" wistfulness. An inebriating album for fans of the Mercury Rev/Flaming Lips school of rock that's studied enough to appropriate the "bom-bom-bom" background vocals of Lou Reed's "Satellite Of Love." -------------------------------- Hydroplane "Hope Against Hope" (Drive-In/Bad Jazz) CD Originally conceived as a one-off band, Hope Against Hope proves that we're lucky that this alter-ego of The Cat's Miaow decided to make Hydroplane an ongoing project. Shadowy ambient passages alternate with reverb-heavy strums and tender, oh-so-lovely female vocals detailing tales of love and loss. Merging the sleepwalking trippiness and song-based styles accentuates the desolation of the lovelorn lyrics and to help the listener feel the heartache. "You gave me a promise you couldn't keep/and now our circle isn't complete/Always long weeks/that's how it feels without you." Heavy sigh. -------------------------------- January "I Heard Myself In You" (Poptones - UK) CD Most of the articles I’ve read about January (a London based quartet) mention the influence of Neil Young and 60s/70s West Coast influences within the band’s classic guitar pop sound. I trust they’re comparisons are correct, but what I hear is a far more sensual blend of Doves-styled atmospherics, Oasis quality melodicism, and Ride/The Verve affect. The songs really soar throughout the album awash with awesome guitar lines and drones by Simon McLean (guitar/vocals/songwriter) and Sarah Peacock (slide guitar/piano/Hammond organ). Simon & Sarah previously played together in Scala. -------------------------------- The Jigsaw Seen "Zenith" (Vibro-phonic) CD The Jigsaw Seen make an awesomely ambitious update of many sounds, including Big Star's dark sides, mid-'60s The Who, Odessa era Bee Gees, The Zombies' baroque yearnings and long list of twisted beauties. Includes the Alex Chilton-esque 7-inch single "Letter To The Editor" from years back and pizzicato strings of the "Celebrity Interview" single as well. A dazzling mix of hi-test pop, a multitude of instruments, and sophisticated melodies! -------------------------------- Kincaid "Plays Super Hawaii" (Kindercore/Emperor Norton) CD/LP New album from Kindercore band featuring label owners Dan Geller and Ryan Lewis. This time around the band has spiced up their sunshine sound with help from new member Sean Rawls (also of Masters Of The Hemisphere) who joined to play accordion, organ, glockenspiel, stylophone and to sing some background vocals. Further instrumental additions include trumpet, strings, grand piano and vibes courtesy of Josh McKay (of Macha). If you like the Turtles and the Lovin' Spoonful, pick this one up. An huge sonic step forward from their debut CD. -------------------------------- Joan Of Arc "Live In Chicago, 1999" (Jade Tree) CD or DLP Don't let the name fool you, the 3rd album from this unique, minimalist pop band from Chicago was recorded in a studio (by Casey Rice) over 4 months. Band mainstay Tim Kinsella was joined by a revolving door of guests including Jen Wood and 1/3 of the Chicago Underground Trio. Kinsella's inceptive lyrical style & the album's primarily acoustic backdrop breathe comfortably alongside the band's fetish for electronic embellishment. "Chicago" claims minimalism in excess, pop without formula... and they score extra points by covering a Scott Walker tune. Nice! -------------------------------- Ida "Will You Find Me" (Tiger Style) CD & LP After a brief flirtation with major labels, Ida return to the indie ranks with an album originally intended for Capitol Records. Fans won't be disappointed, as Ida deliver more painstakingly wondrous pop over beautifully tender songs with male & female vocals. Really gorgeous stuff that pricks up all of my office mates' ears when I play it. -------------------------------- Illyah Kuryahkin "Thirtycabminute" (Arena Rock) CD NYC soundsmith Dean Smith's follow-up to 1997's album of the year contender Count No Count. A pleasantly mellow, yet still spine-tingling assortment of spooky, acoustic guitar-driven mood-pop. The vocals are delivered in strained whispers which complement the hiss of droney ambience that fleshes out the recordings. Somehow Illyah Kuryahkin always come off reminding me of a dark sounding Elliott Smith shrouded in fuzzy mystery. Evocative stuff that marries a variety of influences (a nice dose of jazz elements included). An eerie soundtrack for the city. -------------------------------- Jeff Kelly "Melancholy Sun" (Camera Obscura) 4xCD Melancholy Sun is a four CD set of home and solo recordings spanning 1987-1997 from the main songwriter of Seattle's Green Pajamas; remasters of 3 previously released solo cassettes plus an unreleased album from 1997. Kelly is a top-notch pop craftsman who builds swirling acid-tinged folk-rock tunes that envelop the mind like halos around gas lamps on foggy city streets. His style is intensely personal, but not self-indulgent, weaving spellbinding melodies from a wide variety of influences - Cohen, Ray Davies, Beatles, European folk, and 19th Century romantics all figure prominently. While they span a decade, the songwriting across these 4 discs is surprisingly even. Although the two entities once sounded quite different, it seems that Green Pajamas' current development has brought them to a stylistic stage not far from Jeff's solo work. If you're a fan of the band's Strung Behind The Sun, then this set should please you. -------------------------------- The Kennett Brothers & Friends "Santa Is Real" (All Wrote) CD An interesting compilation was just hand delivered from locals The Kennett Brothers. They've self released, homemade copies of The Kennett Brothers & Friends Santa Is Real. Seasonal fare (okay it would have been nice to have it last month but...) where The Kennett Brothers play 7 songs and their friends offer 10 others. You'll see these guys keep good company with Wilco's Jay Bennett covering tunes from both John Prine ("Christmas In Prison") and Willie Nelson ("Pretty Paper"), Wilco's John Stirratt covering Big Star ("Jesus Christ") and Wilco/5ive Style/Uptighty's LeRoy Bach reworking a Phil Ochs tune. Also included is Champaign-Urbana's the wildly popular, crooning ukulele player The Viper and many others playing traditional (and not so traditional) tunes including Michael Penn/Jon Brion's "Christmastime" and Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer's "Hermie Wants To Be A Dentist." The Holiday season may have past us by, but it's spirit need not die. Plus Wilco fans won't find this at Amazon .com so forward this lil' message from Parasol to any pals that might appreciate it. -------------------------------- The Kings Of Convenience "Quiet Is The New Loud" (Astralwerks/Source) CD & LP Norwegian duo The Kings Of Convenience return with a new record of sorts (six of these tracks appeared on their 2000 Kindercore release). Quiet Is The New Loud yields more great understated, gentle pop drawing it’s inspiration from Nick Drake and Simon & Garfunkel by these leaders of the so-called New Acoustic Movement. -------------------------------- The Kingsbury Manx "Self-titled" (Overcoat) CD & LP The debut from this North Carolinian band showcases another great pop record with a decidedly more laid back approach. Hauntingly beautiful front porch minimalism merging the languid pop of American Analog Set and Bedhead with an inherently Southern quality. Very nice, subdued, somewhat spare songs with melodies that just seem to hang in the air. -------------------------------- Mark Kozelek "Rock 'N' Roll Singer" (Badman) CD Mark Kozelek steps out from behind Red House Painters for his debut solo outing. Again, no major surprises here, just the beautiful music and voice we've grown accustomed to in Kozelek's work. This CD showcases Mark's mastery of making other artists' compositions sound like his own through covering John Denver's "Around And Around," three AC/DC songs from the Bon Scott years, and 3 originals. -------------------------------- Labradford "E luxo so" (Kranky) CD and LP With their 5th studio album, the Kranky flagship have expanded their sound by utilizing a string section, dulcimer, and tape loops that stretched around a room - as well as integrating digital technology via samplers. The result of these efforts are six songs that combine organic & electronic elements into a seamless whole. The album's restrained guitar reverb & ambient loops beg listeners to fill the gaps in the delicate, translucent music. Recalls Talk Talk's later records (but without vocals) & bits of Tortoise's "TNT". -------------------------------- Laptop "Opening Credits" (Trust Me) CD Welcome to Laptopia! Land of the plastic fantastic, where Laptop's keystroke-driven ones and zeros genuflect to saintly types like Gary Numan, David Bowie, Brian Eno, Leonard Cohen, and Scott Walker... Laptop is NYC musician/filmmaker/actor Jesse Hartman, former leader of the band Sammy (Smells Like/Fire/Geffen). A collection of Euro-trash ironies and 80s electro-glam, lazy beats and a bubblebath of squelchy sonics, synth-pop trauma with big stacks of groove and too-cool vocals. Laptop has previous releases on UK indie God Bless Records, UK major Island, and here in the States on MCA. -------------------------------- The Lassie Foundation "Pacifico" (Grand Theft Autumn) CD Grand Theft Autumn have just released a new edition of this 1999 album. It's a great album that I like so much that I often use the band as a reference point for other dreampop contemporaries... Pacifico showcases the top-notch shoegazer psychedelia of this Placentia, CA band. The androgynous vocals (a layered falsetto) met with guitar washes a la My Bloody Valentine/early-Lush/Ride spawned smiles around the office due to its similarity to Parasol favorite All Natural Lemon & Lime Flavors. Pacifico comes recommended to those of you who have enjoyed albums by The Flavors, The Melody Unit, Aspera Ad Astra & Readymade; great bands taking on shoegazer atmospherics - with a twist! Do you ever imagine yourself slow dancing with Sarah Michelle Gellar? Pacifico can help! A track from the disc was featured in the Senior Prom episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. FYI, singer Wayne Everett also plays drums for Starflyer 59. -------------------------------- Lenola "Treat Me To Some Life" (File 13) CD While this New Jersey based band haven’t fully abandoned all of the influences brandished on their first 3 albums (notably My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth), Lenola proudly step into their own on Treat Me To Some Life. A world of sounds and swath of guitars find usable reference points from Mercury Rev to The Lassie Foundation, The Lilys to... Lenola! Dreamed and conceived in the band’s living rooms and basements and put to tape lovingly in the world of home recording, Lenola delivers helium induced vocals wound tight around lazy percussion, guitar slides, warbled flute, keyboards and some odd loops. All this and I have yet to mention the drum solo... Enjoy! -------------------------------- Leslies "Of Today-For Today" (Jigsaw) CD American issue of this phenomenal Swedish pop band's second & most recent full-length includes 3 exclusive bonus tracks including a cover of Marshall Crenshaw's "Favorite Waste Of Time" and an unlisted live cover of "Tainted Love". A breathtaking blend of Eggstone, The Smiths, Starlet, and Sportique - full of the ultra-catchiest tunes. The Leslies first CD was issued on Harry Lime Records (Sweden) in 1996 and then licensed in Japan. Their second CD coincided with Harry Lime's bankruptcy, so Jigsaw jumped in to fill the missing piece! -------------------------------- Lilys "Selected" (File 13) CD-EP & 12-inch After two years devoid of new studio material Lilys maestro Kurt Heasley offers the Selected EP, once more reinventing the band's deviant pop career. This is "new" Lilys music... with a twist. To bootleg fans, both the Velvets/Rainy Day-styled "Any Several Sundays" and the Ride-like "Won't Make You (Sleepy)" were staples in early Lilys' performances. The Eno-esque version of "Touch the Water" first appeared on The Apples' Science Faire collection and then again as a B-Side of the Lilys' "Returns Every Morning" single. Here you'll find 5 remade and remodeled tracks where something old becomes something new and the "noisepop" Lilys merges with the "Kinks" Lilys. -------------------------------- Lasse Lindh "You Wake Up At Sea Tac" (Labrador - Sweden) CD The tower at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport was damaged in the quake, but I fear not as badly as Sweden’s Lasse Lindh. On his sophomore full-length (the first sung in English) Lasse’s relationship based lyrics often end in turmoil and tears. The singing - I adore his lazy Swedish accent - is melodic and melancholic (“Get your kicks from the water produced by my eyes. You can play this forever, you can kill my heart” and “It ain’t so easy to love you true, account of all the rattlesnakes and all that makes you blue/But it’s worth it, I love the thrill”), but don’t expect major depressive episodes musically. Instead you’ll hear pop with great production, varied instrumentation, and a smidge of Coldplay-esque grandiosity. The sound has far more in common with mellow, dramatic Elliott Smith than suicidal Nick Drake. With a previous record on EMI, Lasse performed in front of thousands of teenage girls. With You Wake Up At Sea Tac he’s quite removed from any lingering teenybopper status. He’s also a collaborator on the new Club 8 album (due soon on Hidden Agenda) and can be heard singing lead on their song “Keeping Track Of Time” (found on the upcoming Parasol’s Sweet Sixteen, Vol. 3 and March Records’ Little Molly Has A Treat For You). -------------------------------- Linus Of Hollywood "Your Favorite Record" (Pop Squad) CD Seriously melodic pop from this LA based singer/songwriter (and noted remixer: Smashing Pumpkins, Puff Daddy, Lil Kim!?). Soaring vocals, rich production, and hooks galore that kinda comes off like a mix of Jellyfish (minus their everything-but-the-kitchen-sink production), Owsley, and Mark Bacino. Cheery, 60s flavored, baroque pop gems with layers of background harmonies. Incredibly catchy stuff that makes a strong argument for becoming "your favorite record." Recommended to the Parasol Records/Audities/Amplifier/Not Lame set. -------------------------------- Looper "The Geometrid" (Sub Pop) CD & LP The new Looper album from Belle & Sebastian founding member Stuart David, his wife Karn, Scott of Metrovavan and Ronnie. A playful slab of 21st Century electro-pop with endearing storytelling that's more sung, than spoken this time out. -------------------------------- Lovejoy "Songs In The Key Of Lovejoy" (Matinée) CD Brighton, England's Lovejoy follow-up their acclaimed debut single " A Taste Of the Highlife" with this 10-song full-length. Lead vocalist/guitarist Richard Preece (formerly of Spinning Wheels and current Beaumont and Snowbound International Pop Club collaborator) delivers masterful vocals not unlike a more indie-pop Adorable, a horizon-wide orchestral pop sound blending jangling guitars with harmonies and loads of old-school atmosphere. Contributing to the new expanded line-up is Ally Board on angelic female vocals plus Blueboy/Beaumont fellows Keith Girdler and Paul Stewart on backing vocals and guitars, and Rich Haines on production. With brilliant use of keyboards, percussion, and vocal harmonies, the band's debut long-player is an essential soundtrack for the now generation and perfect for fans of House Of Love, Razorcuts and Biff Bang Pow!. -------------------------------- Low "Christmas" (Chair Kickers' Union/Kranky) CD Low's soothing solitude finds the perfect complement with these songs of Christmas. Along with the classics Silent Night, Little Drummer Boy, & Blue Christmas are five Low originals including If You Were Born Today which originally appeared on the band's 1997 Wurlitzer Jukebox single. As quiet and beautiful as the snow falling, this is the perfect gift from Mimi, Alan, & Zak. -------------------------------- Low "Things We Lost In The Fire" (Kranky) CD & DLP It’s the new Low album, what more do you need to know? Things We Lost In The Fire has songs that are lush (“In Metal”) and songs that are naked (“Whitetail”) and adds a layer of fuzz and distortion (“Dinosaur Act”). Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker’s voices remain at the center of Low’s music, Zak Sally’s bass anchors the whole with carefully placed pauses making every second count. After five albums Low have moved beyond tags like “slowcore,” pace is not nearly as important now as placement. Analog purists rejoice: the three-sided double-LP version of Things... contains bonus material not found on the CD! -------------------------------- The Lucksmiths "Happy Secret" (Drive-In/Candle) CD A chiming, melodic, guitar-pop gospel from these Aussies. Sounds like a cheerfully unsophisticated Belle & Sebastian (especially the vocals) with gentle acoustic strums, sprightly piano, sensual backing vocals, and subtle, indiepop orchestration. Mellow pop with gorgeous harmonies; serene & jangly. "Happy Secret" collects 3 trx from an Australian 7", 6 trx from recent Drive-In/Matinee co-releases, & one unreleased tune. 10 trx in all this really delights as a complete, cohesive whole. -------------------------------- The Lucksmiths "Staring At The Sky" (Matinee/Candle) CDEP Having raved about them in such a recent edition of the 5-Star, it seems dubious to do so again so quickly. These guys are sooo good, yet are still a far cry from being a household name, so I imagine it's still justified, eh? This Australian trio play clean, strummy, jangly guitars, muted drums, and tasteful bass with a dash of horns, strings, and piano highlighted by great singing, songwriting, and lyrics. Mellow balladry and classy, upbeat, melodic pop highly recommended to fans of Belle And Sebastian and Starlet. -------------------------------- The Lucksmiths "Why That Doesn’t Surprise Me" (Drive-In) CD The Lucksmiths return with their first full-length studio recording since 1997, an album of jangly , soft Aussie pop recalling Belle And Sebastian, Starlet, The Smiths, and The Go-Betweens. These fourteen tracks build on the Lucksmithsonian brand of intelligent pop embellished with organ, piano, brass, clarinet, and strings. Lyrically it is the group’s most personal work to date. -------------------------------- The Lull Account "0001" (Grand Theft Autumn) CD There are perfect moments for listening to certain records. I contend that we Midwesterners know this better than the rest of you because of our four gloriously distinct seasons; violent thunderstorms, heavy snows... and I can tell you that tonight I have found the majesty of The Lull Account. It's 2:00 AM, the air is humid and thick, and I'm at work in a house on a very dark street with my ears wide open listening to ambient-acoustic, experimental soundscapes and sultry drone-spiritualism from this Louisville duo. 0001 is eerie and delicate like Labradford, dark and unsettling and weirdly "pop" like Scott Walker's Tilt. Electronics, guitars and vocals combine into a varied, late night listening soundtrack with textured grooves and shuffled rhythms like a not-so-manic The Notwist, whispered Slint-styled narratives and guitar strangle, Godspeed You Black Emperor's shadowy mysticism, and Talk Talk's sparse, yet somehow spacious, atmospherics. Expect cerebral intricacies, dark shadows, a nd a somewhat sinister ambience along the lines of those creeps in Piano Magic. -------------------------------- Luna "Live" (Arena Rock) CD & DLP Luna Live is basically a greatest hits record delivered in the band’s greatest setting - on stage. Stripped of the studio, Luna are showcased as electric guitar alchemists weaving their post-Galaxie 500, V/U-inspired tangle with hypnotic success. The 14 tracks herein are plucked from each of the band’s five full-length studio albums plus a rendition of Galaxie 500’s “4th Of July.” Vinyl junkies are rewarded with 4 bonus tracks not found on the CD in a limited edition pressing housed in a gatefold sleeve. -------------------------------- Maccabees "Songs From The Weakest Link" (New Granada) CD5 The Maccabees are former members of Pogoh, a band that Parasol first encountered when they released a split 7" with Braid. Upon first hearing them, we were blown away by the terrific female singer. Once again Susie is the centerpiece of this band from Florida. She elevates the tender strums of this post-emo pop band with layered vocals recalling Juliana Hatfield-meets-Elizabeth Elmore while singing heartbreaking lyrics like "I've never been so close to fine/with all ghosts left behind/and when we finally understand/we'll know it never works out like we planned." But, Susie and the boys do work things out on "The Weakest Link" and it is indeed fine. Very fine. -------------------------------- Stephen Malkmus "self-titled" (Matador) CD & LP Pavement’s lead singer, songwriter and guitarist Stephen Malkmus returns, after that band’s split, with his debut solo album. Often credited with being the main architect for Pavement’s sound, Stephen’s unmistakable drawling vocal, unusual guitar tunings and arcane lyrics are realized more completely on this self-titled release. The album is solidly packed with chunky rock songs and sprawling ballads, and at times resembles Pavement’s second and most successful album, 1994’s Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. “I hate to say it, but it’s the same as Pavement, but with a different rhythm section... I wish it was a big departure, but it’s hard to depart from yourself without being a poseur,” claims Malkmus. A new depth and new delicacy pervades this record, however, from the dewy nostalgia of “Trojan Curfew” to the clear, almost Squeeze-like narrative of “Jennifer and the Ess-Dog.” Pavement have long been one of my favorite Springtime bands. It will be nice to usher in another season with Steve ’s comforting pop. -------------------------------- Hannah Marcus "Black Hole Heaven" (Bar/None) CD I bought my first Hannah Marcus CD based upon Mark Kozelek's playing & production involvement - some of you will remember her passionate single "Demerol." While he doesn't surface on this release his former protégée has succeeded in giving me the creeps on her 4th album. As dark and spooky as one of my all time favorite albums, Lisa Germano's Geek The Girl, hearing Black Hole Heaven finds me hurriedly lunging for the light switch just in case she's singing about me when she says "I'd like to rip your fucking throat out and plant a tree inside your neck." Truly evocative, very enjoyable. -------------------------------- Marine Research "Parallel Horizontal EP" (K Records) CDep Ex-Talulah Gosh vets Amelia & Rob reunite with their Heavenly bandmates Cathy & Peter and newcomer DJ Downfall. Parallel Horizontal delivers the buoyant pop hook, sweet female lead vocals and background harmonies, and a driving finish that will bring a smile to the faces of longtime admirers. Yes, it is good to have them making music again. The 2 B-sides are new songs that were recorded for the John Peel show last May. -------------------------------- Marine Research "Sounds From The Gulf Stream" (K Records) CD/LP Sure, both Marine Research & Stereolab were spotlighted in last month's 5-Star, but with 2 new releases from such celebrated bands we'd be remiss if we didn't bring them to your attention again. The post-Heavenly/Talulah Gosh band Marine Research come storming out of the gate on their full-length debut. More great pop stuff that's very true to the band's esteemed lineage. -------------------------------- Mazinga Phaser "Dissatisfied Customers Of Hallucination" (Idol) CD New album from these critically acclaimed North Texan blastronauts, scorching/soothing avant-pop/psych-rock with experimental leanings and newfound appreciation for The Classic Pop Song. Compare to Spiritualized, Pale Saints, My Bloody Valentine, but much wilder, trippier, stranger. Produced by the band, David Baker (Mercury Rev, Shady) and David Willingham. -------------------------------- Mellow "Another Mellow Spring" (Cyber Octave) CD French electronic band Mellow finally deliver a US release after garnering praise in Europe & Japan, a mood-drenched fantasy akin to countrymen Air and Phoenix and recommended to fans of the Astralwerks and Source Records aesthetic. -------------------------------- The Melody Unit "Odds Against Tomorrow" (101 Records) CD Sumptuous Seattle space-rock, tropical pop-songs wrapped in lush rolling ambient soundscapes, dense layers of blissful keys and guitars and guitars (lotsa guitars) and sighing male and female dream-voices, an underwater orchestra fully immersed in reverb so moist you'll be soaking wet just listening. From the psychedelic surf of "The Fugue" to the butterfly beautiful shadow-dynamics of "Spy Song" The Melody Unit has joined much-loved artists like My Bloody Valentine, All Natural Lemon & Lime Flavors and Lush in the pink-noise-dream-pop pantheon. Theirs is a more minimalist approach, less shoegazey, more melody-friendly, a course that allows the actual pop-songs to shine through with ungodly candlepower! Aside from some blissfully deranged, droning instrumentals it's a pop record... with effects out the wazoo! -------------------------------- Melon Galia "Les Embarras du Quotidien" (Les Disques Mange-tout) CD Exquisitely intimate orchestral pop, sung completely in the most sensual French, a boyish lead vocal backed by a nearly constant soft-focus female harmony. Beautifully baroque acoustic/piano arrangements that never stop, melodies adorned and re-adorned with strings and lotsa horns and other analogue gadgetry. One of Parasol's favorite British melancholy-pop artists, John Cunningham, also makes several guest appearances on "guitares et basses" and, I'm translating here, I think he also recorded and/or produced and/or arranged the record as well. The album also features vocals by Bright Eyes' leader Conor Oberst and musical/production efforts by Bright Eyes/Lullaby For The Working Class collaborator Mike Mogis. A brilliant record, and if you like your French lyrics enunciated very clearly and your orch-pop arrangements refreshingly diverse, then this is for you! Plus you get a gorgeous digipak with a stunning full-color 13 panel foldout! -------------------------------- The Mendoza Line "We're All In This Alone" (Bar/None-Misra) CD Following the release of their last Kindercore record the boys in The Mendoza Line decided it was time to call an end to the band. When the girls heard of the boys conceit - to think that they alone could call it quits - they retaliated by writing some terrific songs without them and, in turn, inspired the boys to get back to work on a new album. And what a record it is! Named after the baseball term for the mythical "line" that separates decent hitters from bad hitters, The Mendoza Line hit a homerun with "We're All In This Alone". The girls' songs alternate with the boys' songs and while the lyrical imagery from both camps is decidedly melancholy (the band say the album "closely explores the genders' differing outlooks on sex and fidelity, while attempting to ascertain precisely the reason why all romantic relationships must ultimately culminate in a relentless spiral of anguish and misery"), by contrast the music is pleasant, homespun pop. Rather than wrestling with the limitations of recording, they bask in its glory with clever production, stereo panning, and room sounds. Picture the Drag City neo-Americana roster covering tunes by the Essex Green on their porch and you're not far off. "WAITA" is a great example of the promise within today's underground American pop scene! -------------------------------- Minders "Cul-de-Sacs & Dead Ends" (spinArt/Elephant 6) CD Over the past few years, Martyn Leaper & Co have endeavored to update the classic sounds of 60s British pop for today's audiences. With the nurturing of their like-minded Elephant 6 cohorts and 4-track recording know-how, they've been able to deliver the fuzzy, pop goods. This compilation CD is intended as an audio timeline of the band's early years. Included are the tracks from their 4 previously vinyl-only EPs Come And Hear!!, Paper Plane, Rocket 58, and Black Balloon along with several new recordings and older, unreleased material. -------------------------------- The Minders "Golden Street" (Spin Art) CD The Minders are fronted by Englishman Martyn Leaper, who came to the U.S. in the mid-eighties after living in Germany for several years. It was here, ironically, that Martyn developed his love for the classic British sounds of the ‘60s. After years of playing in the usual stint of high school bands, Martyn grew tired of making “modern” sounds. He developed a strong desire to create those classic sounds he knew and loved so much. It was this desire that led Martyn to start The Minders. Now, after two years of writing and recording, The Minders are pleased to present Golden Street. It is an album filled with glimmering hooks, chiming guitars and soaring vocals accentuated with a sonic kaleidoscope of horns, strings, piano, harpsichord and other interesting touches. The Minders distill classic elements of pop music and shape it into their own sound. Expect a blend of well produced, ebullient, sunny pop similar to The Apples and Orange Peels with a bit of Neutral Milk Hotel-esque earthiness and Secret Square-style (when Rebecca sings lead). Although The Minders probably haven’t the slightest idea, old-timers will think the band are channelling Husker Du’s “Reoccurring Dreams” on the psychedelic “Nice Day For It.” Nice day indeed! -------------------------------- Monograph "Lorelei" (Shinkansen) CD Lorelei is the much anticipated debut from North London's Monograph. Calling to mind Teenage Fanclub's A Catholic Education as interpreted by Robert Pollard, Lorelei draws from the finest elements of each party - fuzz, hooks, & melody. Dangerous and dreamy in equal proportions, these 15 tracks temper their buzzing aggressions with occasional strummy, chiming sweetness - like the mellow side of The Soundtrack Of Our Lives or Mezzanines filtered through the current Creation Records roster. This is a super record that's individual, yet familiar, and wholly enjoyable. Highly recommended! -------------------------------- Moose "Baby It's Over" (Saltwater) CD5 New music from the sweet, smart British pop band Moose - who put out records very slowly. Two songs from an upcoming full-length plus 2 exclusive tracks. Great stuff tailor made for those of us who grew up loving the soaring, atmospheric pop of The Church, Echo & The Bunnymen, Love & Rockets, etc. A heady mix of strings, drumming & drum machines, rich wafting male vocals, and ringing guitars so dense it's a wonder that they got them off the ground at all. Moose have released previous records for folks like Play It Again Sam, Hut, and Cool Badge. Their forthcoming album will be a Saltwater co-release with Le Grand Magistery. -------------------------------- Moose "High Ball Me!" (Le Grand Magistery) CD Following the terrific Baby It's Over EP, the new Moose album is as satisfying as it was anticipated. Supremely classic pop along the lines of 80's The Church or House Of Love with great production, soaring guitars, wafting vocals... the works! We're impressed. -------------------------------- Moxie "Blue Sky, Maybe" (My 1st Sonny Weissmuller/Konkurrent NETHERLANDS) CD Amazing Belgian band creates droney guitar pop resplendent with treated keyboards and propulsive krautrock rhythms, two girls singing and playing guitar, keyboard and drums, and two boys playing guitar and bass and some vocals. Shares a familiar groove with Novak, an eerie edginess with Spaniards Carmine, and a certain something with Blonde Redhead. The album was recorded in San Francisco with Kyle Statham of Fuck with whom Moxie also share a split 7-inch. The Moxie gals also serve it up as 2/3 of a trio named Cafeteria. -------------------------------- Music Tapes "1st Imaginary Symphony For Nomad" (Merge)CD/LP The full-length debut from Music Tapes is the culmination of four years of work and thousands of hours of recording, tape splicing, editing, and orchestration. Julian (Neutral Milk Hotel/Chocolate USA) Koster and Robbie Cucchiaro are the principle masterminds behind Music Tapes. They are our guides through strange new lands where the musical imagination is stretched across a variety of media. Our escapist heroes receive ample help from the Elephant 6 East collective including Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel and Will Hart of Olivia Tremor Control. -------------------------------- My Favorite "Joan Of Arc Awaiting Trial" (Double Agent) CD-EP The first in a series of three limited EPs from one of indie-pop's most acclaimed and misunderstood bands. Equal parts feverish pop devotion and art-school experimentation, 80s new wave and 90s indie-pop with mighty guitar jangles, blipping synths and sultry dub rhythms, art-pop that's never heard of grunge. These melodic masterpieces ride a razor's edge of the slickest pop and waycool British post-punk with sexy male vocals and sexier female vocals across sweet and tender anthems! -------------------------------- National Skyline "Exit Now" (File 13) CD-EP National Skyline return from their Hidden Agenda debut with a new single and a new label. Exit Now finds the duo of Jeff (Castor) Garber and Jeff (Hum/Honcho Overload) Dimpsey exploring a less cinematic, more overt pop sound (even Beck-like on one song!). A multitude of sounds and home studio know-how punctuate three brand new songs and an entirely, reworked version of Karolina which initially appeared on the debut disc. Very nice stuff to tide you over until their next full-length slated for April, 2001! -------------------------------- The New Year "Newness Ends" (Touch & Go) CD & LP The New Year is a band which features the Kadane brothers, Matt and Bubba, leaders of the great, late band Bedhead. In 1998, after seven years, three critically acclaimed full-length albums, two EPs, and various singles, Bedhead split. The Kadane brothers, never intending to quit playing music, recruited three old friends (Chris Brokaw of Pullman/Come/Codeine, Peter Schmidt who played on-stage with Bedhead, and Mike Donofrio of Saturnine) to play the songs that would have eventually made the fourth Bedhead record had they remained together. Newness Ends should please Bedhead fans as well as those who may have appreciated the Kadane brothers, but were turned off by the slow pacing. The New Year’s songs are more immediate and varied than its predecessor’s. Hear the almost sing-along “Gasoline,” the frenetic “Carne Lavare” or the drum heavy “The Block That Didn’t Exist.” It’s also hard to imagine the opener, “Half A Day,” or the album’s 4½ minute opus “One Plus One Equals One,” on any Bedhead record. And yet the continuities remain: the linear “Reconstruction,” the languid “Simple Life,” the waltzy “Alter Ego,” the country-ish “Great Expectations,” and the emotionally-charged album closer, “Newness Ends.” All together these songs make an extremely beautiful and essential album for the new millennium. The New Year for the new year. Touch And Go have also re-released the past three Bedhead full-length CDs, formerly issued on the Trance Records label. -------------------------------- Northern Picture Library "Still Life" (Vinyl Japan UK) CD Vinyl Japan bring us the very highly anticipated new singles compilation from Northern Picture Library. Northern Picture Library were the reincarnation of seminal 80's indie band The Field Mice. The Field Mice had a string of releases on Bristol's Sarah Records between '88 and '91, and were frequent entrants in the UK indie single and album charts, making Single Of The Week in both the Melody Maker and the NME. They consequently earned a large and loyal fan base eager for more material next realized through Northern Picture Library. Northern Picture Library set out to create music of a more experimental nature than the tightly structured, more acoustically oriented songs of The Field Mice. Together they achieved an essential mix of ambience and atmosphere in their similarly heartfelt songs. Mind you, Northern Picture Library haven't boiled everything down to an ambient twinkle. Lyrically-driven, verse-chorus-verse formatted songs still exist and these folks can still break your heart before reaching the 3rd chord. Still Life now complements Alaska, their one full-length album (also available), so that adoring fans need not be left searching for out-of-print excellence. The disc contains some of their finest moments from 1993-4 including not only the Vinyl Japan singles, but also all four of NPL's Sarah Records recordings. Of course, Northern Picture Library are no more, but have splintered yet again into Trembling Blue Stars... and the legions of faithful FM-NPL-TBS fans march on! -------------------------------- The Orange Peels "So Far" (spinArt) CD Mister Allen Clapp is back, exploring the fabled West Coast Sound with his band The Orange Peels! This band started out as Allen Clapp & His Orchestra, releasing singles on various international pop labels and a full-length album, One Hundred Percent Chance Of Rain, on Bus Stop (recently reissued through Parasol). So Far is Brian Wilson meets Burt Bacharach meets Ray Davies, and it’s all about California bubblegum and classy arrangements - the West Coast Sound indeed! The pristine guitar jangle and dayglo sunshine popsongs of their 1997 debut, Square (Minty Fresh), mingle with songwriting prowess reminiscent of Carole King and Jimmy Webb, with the honed chops of a seasoned touring band - it’s amazing! The Orange Peels feature members of The Mummies, Jad Fair, and Half Japanese, but don’t let that scare you, this is a completely awesome pop band who have created one of this year’s most brilliant pop albums! For fans of Bikeride, Linus Of Hollywood, Oranger, Spearmint, even McCarthy! -------------------------------- Oranger "The Quiet Vibration Land" (Amazing Grease) CD Recorded on equipment salvaged from The Beach Boys' Brother Studios, this is beautiful 60s-meets-90s psych-pop with new emphasis on the mellower side of 60s pop - more bubblegum than bombastic, more classic Kinks and the softer side of The Who than The Flaming Lips let's say. While the band's great debut was patently tweaked pop, I believe The Quiet Vibration Land is even better because of its poppier approach. I hear more in common with the likes of purists Owsley, Ben Folds Five, Weezer, Lilys and The Beatles on this outing. NME said, "Oranger proves that American Psychedelia hasn't looked healthier since its golden period in the late 60s," SPIN said, "Lock three 60s record geeks in a garage with their vinyl and you might get this psychedelic power-pop group. It's Nuggets: The Next Generation baby," while CMJ said "Angelic Beach Boys harmonies, Keith Moon splatter drumming, driving post-punk bass, and Pete Townshend guitar build-ups." Here's an album you 60s Power Pop devotees will cherish, with enough lo-fi frazzle and trippy interludes for you Elephant 6 and Kindercore fans to sink their teeth into too! -------------------------------- Outrageous Cherry "Out There In The Dark" (Del-Fi 2000) CD Thank goodness! A new record from these reverb-happy, 60s-style, jangle-psych-popsters from Michigan. Led by Matthew Smith, the band are masters at approximating Spector's wall of sound with tons of reverb, a driving beat, and melodic hooks. Outrageous Cherry continue to explore the sunnier side of droning pop music with their trademark 60s succulence and 70s AM radio melodies, harmonies, and energies wrapped in spacey feedback and garagy lofi scree! -------------------------------- Outrageous Cherry "The Book Of Spectral Projections" (Rainbow Quartz) CD A domestic edition of the great 2001 release by Outrageous Cherry (The Book Of Spectral Projections Rainbow Quartz $11.50) comes as highly recommended this year as it was last year! Reverb-happy, 60s-style, jangle-psych-popsters from Michigan led by Matthew Smith (Volebeats). The band are masters at approximating Spector’s wall of sound with tons of reverb, a driving beat, and melodic hooks... -------------------------------- Pacific Radio "Self-titled" (Shinkansen UK) CD Pacific Radio is the new name for Monograph, who, led by singer/songwriter/guitarist Rob Crutchley, released three singles and an album (Lorelei) on Shinkansen over the last two years, to increasing acclaim, especially here in the USA! Musically the eponymously titled Pacific Radio is a return to the pure pop thrash of the early Monograph singles with their production and arrangement skills honed to razor edges... Despite the songs' brevity, most tunes clock in at 2 minutes or less, there is a magnificent intricacy and multi-layering of instruments with Rob now much more confident on vocals - indeed the two versions of "Slow Refrain" which bookend the album are virtual a cappella pieces! Recalling "classic" guitar-pop bands like Teenage Fanclub and Guided By Voices, Pacific Radio stands on their own! This 7-song album was produced by Clive Painter from Broken Dog/Tram, who also plays on the record. -------------------------------- pApAs fritAs "Buildings And Grounds" (Minty Fresh) CD Pop has freed us. Buildings And Grounds is the new album from this pop trio from Boston. Tony, Shivika, and Keith return with their signature dose of buoyant, ultra-catchy, 3-minute pop now delivered with a somewhat broader stylistic range incorporating a quieter, easier feel on some songs & a more sophisticated tone on others. The co-ed singing, as always, is a highlight with harmonies tastefully strewn throughout. Another good one from these folks!! -------------------------------- The Polyphonic Spree "The Beginning Stages Of..." (Good Records) CD The reports that I’ve gathered from folks who made the trip to the SXSW music festival seem to agree that two bands stole the show: The Soundtrack Of Our Lives and The Polyphonic Spree. As far as TSOOL goes, please tell your friend-of-a-friend that we're trying to get more copies of Behind The Music from Warner Bros. Sweden, but as labels are jockeying for position to sign the band to a US deal our small scale arrangement seems less pressing to the parent company. It’s encouraging to hear that TSOOL frontman Ebbot Lundberg wasn’t the only guy in a robe at the SXSW festival. The Polyphonic Spree upped the ante with 24 of ‘em! That’s right a 12-piece choral, symphonic pop band boasting a 12 member choir. Those of you (us) who love The Flaming Lips & Mercury Rev will find something to have and to hold on this shiny little disc. Sing along with twenty-some voices on one of the most joyful records of the year. Brilliant debut album from this lovingly hyped Texan outfit led by former Tripping Daisy fellow Tim DeLaughter. A collection of pastoral psychedelic popsongs blessed by the voices of a full-on choir, plus strings and horns, moogs and piano, bells and best of all: kettle drums! If you have kids this will be their new fave CD. If you have any “kid” left in you (I hope you do) this will be your new fave CD! A honestly spiritual vibe permeates songs that would be wonderful without two dozen vocalists, and are otherworldly with the glee club on hand. Sounds like The Heavy Blinkers with the harmony meter set on “eleven”, The Flaming Lips Soft Bulletin gone glassy-eyed gospel, like Mercury Rev recorded outdoors, um, with a whole bunch of people singing along! -------------------------------- The Posies "At Least, At Last" (Not Lame Archive) 4xCD Box Set At Least, At Last unearths treasures from one of the most essential pop bands of all time! A 4xCD set limited to just 2,500 copies housed in a ultra-cool, mega-stylish package (like the Cheap Trick box) bookshelf format. Included is a beautiful, full-color, 24 page booklet with complete notes from Ken and Jon on each track and tons of unpublished photos. The set contains 66 songs featuring demos, studio outtakes, live recordings and other oddities spanning their entire career. This is a RARITIES collection and does NOT contain previously released material. Ken and Jon oversaw the mastering of all the music on At Least, At Last and Posies expert, Kelly Minnis, and Ken and Jon compiled the collection over an 18 month time span and worked arduously to bring fans a complete, honest and passionate overview of the band's work. Not Lame licensed some tracks from Universal (Geffen) to allow the box set to address some missing, hard-to-find treasures including tunes from the infamous "Lost Ses sions" (also known as the "Eclipse Sessions"'). Also included are excellent covers of Devo, Big Star, and a studio version of Cheap Trick's "Surrender." -------------------------------- The Posies "Nice Cheekbones And A Ph.D." (Houston Party - Spain) CD-EP Nice EP from Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer, co-founders of Seattle’s finest power-pop band now thankfully reactivated! Rejoice in ALL NEW studio recordings (the first since their 1998 album Success) including three tunes recorded in Barcelona in November 2000. Four new compositions by the Auer/Stringfellow duo and a cover of The Byrds’ obscurity “Lady Friend” (written by David Crosby) with the original version’s lush Beach Boys-esque harmonies pleasingly Posie-d! -------------------------------- Postal Blue "Self-titled" (Drive-In) CD-EP Long-awaited debut from Brazilian jangle-pop combo Postal Blue, who have appeared on a couple of select pop compilations, and who have been compared to Blueboy, Brighter, Slowdive, Belle & Sebastian, and Trembling Blue Stars. These 4 songs are textbook Sarah Records style output circa 1992 - lofty, jangly pop with great male vocals. Classic. -------------------------------- Poster Children "Flower Plower" (12 Inch) CD When I write the book on Champaign-Urbana rock history, the Poster Children will feature prominently in Chapter 7: 1985-1991. Poster Children formed at a time when the common threads between independent bands were a belief in music and a strong work ethic and when the economies of scale in record production were not to the point where absolutely every band had an album out. At the time, only the cream of the independent crop rose to the top and released records. Listeners appreciated bands, rather than styles and embraced a musical diversity where it was okay to listen to Black Flag, Camper Van Beethoven, and The Replacements. Poster Children are a direct by-product of those times. Schooled in the history of independent-minded music from Wire to Thin White Rope, they worked hard and toured heavily. Regional appreciation followed, audiences grew, and the band were rewarded with releasing a record on Limited Potential out of Chicago (also Smashing Pumpkins' first label). The resulting album Flower Plower made the band huge in the Midwest and furthered the band's reach. Eventually, Frontier Records (Thin White Rope/American Music Club/Three O'Clock) snatched up the release and widened the band's distribution net. The band later signed to Twin/Tone and then Sire prior to returning to an independent label, Spin Art Records. Throughout these changes the Poster Kids remained fiercely DIY by controlling the band's marketing, touring, and recording duties. From the Sub Pop Singles Club to playing SXSW, these survivors are virtually a case study as to what it has meant to be in a band for the past 15 years. Now things come full circle as Poster Children reissue their out of print debut album Flower Plower on their own 12 Inch Records (Hum, Lovecup) label. -------------------------------- The Prayer Boat "Polichinelle" (Atlantic/Setanta) CD The Prayer Boat yields grand, stylish, classy pop that really caught my attention. Pop epics with soaring, Jeff Buckley-esque, love-'em-or-hate-'em vocals as the focal point from this Dublin 4-piece. -------------------------------- Archer Prewitt "White Sky" (Carrot Top/Hi-Ball) CD/LP White Sky is the sophomore outing from Chicago mainstay Archer Prewitt (he of The Sea & Cake, Sam Prekop's backing band, and formerly of The Coctails). This new outing finds Archer to be a more mature, focussed, reflective and confident singer, songwriter, musician and arranger. The album moves from lush, fully orchestrated pop to driving rock and bittersweet, introspective, Nick Drake-ish ballads. The record benefits throughout from intricate and well executed string and horn arrangements. Luminous, accomplished pop for fans of The Aluminum Group and Eric Matthews. -------------------------------- The Producers "The Producers/You Make The Heat" (One Way) CD I bought the eponymous debut from The Producers at a Record Bar in suburban St. Louis at about the same time as purchasing Ozzy's "Diary Of A Madman" and Bob & Doug McKenzie's "Great White North." Of the 3 albums, The Producers are the band that this lifelong Cheap Trick/Rick Springfield/Records/Adam Schmitt devotee has held dear. The 2-on-1 reissue of the first 2 albums by the talented pop band are a welcome addition to any pop fan's collection. The debut is upbeat verse-chorus-verse driven melodic pop, the sophomore outing is a bit darker in sound and content, but both are just superb. Three out of ten Parasolarians can sing each and every word on this disc... -------------------------------- The Promise Ring "Very Emergency" (Jade Tree) CD/LP Very Emergency is the highly anticipated third album from this beloved Milwaukee-based band. The record leaves its mark as The Promise Ring's most sophisticated pop record to date - its punk rock nobility, perhaps, being at least partially responsible for the idea that these guys are not only crossing genres, but conceivably spearheading their own. These ex-Cap'n Jazz/current Vermont-sters have a deepened respect for song craft and desire to show that melody can also be heavy. Great stuff that goes beyond the "emo" tag. Recorded with J. Robbins at Inner Ear. Mixed at Butch Vig's Smart Studios. -------------------------------- Quickspace "The Death Of Quickspace" (Matador) CD & LP The Death Of Quickspace - a searing combination of beauty and chaos- marks this London quintet's 3rd proper full-length release. It's a bracing affair that showcases the evolving complexity of the band's melodic dissonance and the fractured beauty at the center of the tempest. Check out the moody desperation and lurching guitar aggression of "They Shoot Horse Don't They?" or the resigned after-the-tequila's-gone C&W harmonies of "Gloriana." Their live fury has been a crucial element of their popularity overseas and American audiences will finally get their opportunity to see the band this month supporting various shows with bands like Yo La Tengo and Papas Fritas. -------------------------------- Mark Robinson "Taste" (Teenbeat) CD-EP Indie godfather Mark (Flin Flon/Air Miami/Grenadine/Unrest) abandons the guitar to explore the pure frequency sine wave and voice within "a somewhat popular music structure." The 1st in a series of 4. Are you ready? -------------------------------- Salomé "A.M." (Dutch Courage) CD An enormous, hallucinogenic psych-rock sound that harkens back to the days of Amon Duul and Hawkwind, Loop and Spacemen 3, The Telescopes and Slowdive. Co-ed vocals and a diverse assortment of styles that can be sensual and shoegazey, psychedelic and monstrous, way off in outer space, or pure loud trip-rock, all depending on where you decide to land your laser. Comparable to Bardo Pond, The Major Stars, this is blessedly "old school" (well, 1995/96) spacerock. It's inebriating, boo-huffing, dangerous music including members of Grimble Grumble, Dolce Volante, and Language Of Feedback. -------------------------------- Saltine "Find Yourself Alone EP" (Houston Party) CDEP & 7-inch Four-piece band fronted by Ken Stringfellow of The Posies (etc.) along with former Pedro The Lion sideman Blake Wescott. The three song CDEP and two song 7-inch each include the ultra-melodic title track that is simply impossible to get out of your head. Also included are Any Sign At All (on the CDEP) and the vinyl-only B-side to the 7-inch Your Love Won't Be Denied. Both of these tracks are slicker, poppier reworkings of Stringfellow tunes found in their original, shadowy state on Ken's solo CD from Hidden Agenda. The CDEP also adds Reveal Love. A great start for highly anticipated band! -------------------------------- Scenic "Acquatica" (Independent Project Records) DLP and CD A newly released vinyl edition of the 2nd Scenic album is now available as a double LP in a letterpress sleeve with a bonus flexidisc and poster. A wonderful, sprawling epic travelogue inspired by oceans, deserts, other lands and civilizations, Acquatica yields over 60 minutes of instrumental wonder featuring Savage Republic and IPR founder Bruce Licher. Of course, the CD version of Acquatica is also still available. -------------------------------- Secret Square "Self-Titled" (Elephant 6) CD I'd like to repromote the Secret Square CD to those of you who aren't familiar with it. Secret Square was Hilarie Schneider from The Apples in stereo & Lisa Janssen. Back in 1995 the gals created shadowy lofi epics, freaked, tweaked, & transcendentally twee psychedelic pop with chiming girl harmonies, wickedly loopy guitar lines, & the odd sonic ghosts shimmering in the wings... Their murky psychedelia is dark & a little bit twisted, hazy & beautiful. These tracks were recorded by Hilarie, mixed by Robert Schneider at Pet Sounds Studio, & feature a guest appearance by original Apples guitarist/Von Hemmling guy Jim McIntyre. This disc compiles tunes from their out-of-print mini-LP plus 4 exclusive, unreleased songs including a cover of the Velvet Underground song "Candy Says." 11 tracks from 1996/97. -------------------------------- The Shazam "Rev 9" (Not Lame/Rainbow Quartz) CD The Shazam send you 7 tracks of bristling pop with soaring vocals and great production. The lead track "On The Airwaves" is top-notch & worth the price of admission alone. Mojo Magazine calls Rev 9 one of the year's best records, "an utterly glorious knot of The Who, The Move, and The Beatles circa '67, all created in '90s Tennessee." -------------------------------- Shellac "1000 Hurts" (Touch And Go) CD & LP (with bonus CD) Steve Albini's outspoken disapproval of digital technology and rallying cry for analog purists surfaces once more as his band's new album is available in a sumptuous 180 gram vinyl pressing with a CD copy (literally) thrown in the packaging - minus the accompanying CD artwork and jewelcase. An added convenience for vinyl buyers delivered offhandedly - at no additional charge. -------------------------------- Shimmer Kids Underpop Association "Bury My Heart At Makeout Point" (Underpop) CD We've unearthed a gem in the debut by the Shimmer Kids Underpop Association. These six San Franciscans are a woozy, psych-pop outfit grounded to Beach Boys harmonies & hooks while playing fuzzy, homespun pop that's heavy into organ, carnival-esque, effected guitars & vintage, otherworldly treatments reminiscent of the Athens, GA scene that spawned Neutral Milk Hotel and The Mendoza Line. Occasionally, the Shimmer Kids also veer toward gentler terrain akin to early Belle And Sebastian replete with horn section & a lyrical reference to e.e.cummings. Bury My Heart At Makeout Point is September's pleasant surprise! -------------------------------- Shimmer Kids "Strange Signals"/"Whistle While You Weep" (Flare) 7-inch Last year we happened upon the rewarding full-length debut from San Francisco's Shimmer Kids Underpop Association Bury My Heart At Makeout Point and it prompted us to seek out this single from 1999. Here you'll find 2 songs recorded with the same inspiring enthusiasm that made all of the early Elephant 6 recordings so special - echoes of pop's past, tweaked sound and production, ebullient harmonies & hooks! -------------------------------- Shiner "Starless" (Owned & Operated) CD When Shiner's last record label went belly-up and their Sub Pop single didn't lead to an invitation to the big dance, I thought them to be one of the best unsigned rock bands in the nation. Unfortunately, since that time Bizkit & Britney have changed the face of the industry leaving them to reach the masses through independent channels once again. Still, Shiner deliver the rock the way we like it in Champaign with huge guitars and fat riffs like Hum and with an languid, understated melodicism like Castor. They also share subtle similarities with the defunct band Zoom (also of Kansas) and Failure (Shiner even lost their longtime drummer to the post-Failure band On between albums). The power and beauty of their 2 previous records remains, as does the great singing and phrasing of singer-guitarist Allen Epley and stellar production work of bassist Paul Malinowski (he also recorded Castor's "Tracking Sounds Alone"). New to the mix is the presence of an additional guitarist/keyboardist/sou nd shaper to further flesh out the songs with additional goodness. Shiner are simply a great, low key rock band without a gimmick - no fur coats or feather boas, no Kid Rock bravado or Rage mania, no rapping and, heck, they're not even Swedish... just substance over style and yet another great album. -------------------------------- The Silos "Laser Beam Next Door" (Checkered Past) CD Since first releasing records in 1985 and being voted the “Best New American Band” in the Rolling Stone Critics Poll of 1987, Walter Salas-Humara has been The Silos’ one constant member and he still hasn’t broken his stride. Although the high-profile spotlight once lavished on the band may have faded somewhat, these songs still shine as brightly. -------------------------------- The 6ths "Hyacinths and Thistles" (Merge) CD The 2nd album from the collaborative project in which Stephin (The Magnetic Fields/Gothic Archies) Merritt composes & records songs that feature a guest vocalist for each track. On Hyacinths he presents a European flavor in the French "chanson" (or cabaret-like) style with esteemed vocalists Sarah Cracknell (St. Etienne), Gary Numan, Marc Almond (Soft Cell), Momus, Sally Timms (Mekons), Bob Mould (Husker Du/Sugar), Miho Hatori (Cibo Matto), Clare Grogan (Altered Images), Neil Hannon (The Divine Comedy), etc.! -------------------------------- Skywave "Echodrone" (Cherry Coated) CD "Psychocandy" anyone? Skywave aren't as spacey and ethereal as their name and the title might lead you to believe... They're all about blistering 60s inspired, guitar-driven pop, trade-off female and male vocals, fiercely fragile feedback and chanting vocals that recall, heck, that unceremoniously resurrect the goth spirit of the Jesus & Mary Chain, heady, surreal and bold. High concept avant-pop like The Aislers Set meets The House Of Love meets My Bloody Valentine meets The Apples in stereo, lofi in the best garage traditions, reverb used with reckless abandon, this is noisy and beautiful, this is "Just Like Honey" and "The Hardest Walk", whatcha need to quell the ache in heart and your supersonic sweettooth! -------------------------------- Sleater-Kinney "All Hands On The Bad One" (Kill Rock Stars) CD & LP With "All Hands On..." critical fave Sleater-Kinney moves away from the introspection of "The Hot Rock" and returns to "the rock" with a jubilant, playful attitude that reveals just how much fun this band has had being together and making music. Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein continue as usual with their guitar and vocal interplay, but the addition of drummer Janet Weiss on vocals means radical three part harmonies and even more interesting interweaving melodies. Cool stuff recorded with a more casual attitude than before, yielding the most positive upbeat, confident S-K record to date. -------------------------------- Sloan "Pretty Together" (RCA/Murder) CD RCA offer a domestic issue of Sloan's 6th record. Perfect, hook-heavy, radio-ready, melodic pop for those of us who love listening to early Van Halen records in the car with the windows down. Perhaps that’s a Midwestern thing, but heaven knows it shouldn’t be. -------------------------------- The Soft Boys "Underwater Moonlight... And How It Got There" (Matador) 2xCD & 3xLP + 7-inch Matador Records provide essential listening with their definitive reissue of The Soft Boys Underwater Moonlight. In addition to the original 1980 album and the extra tracks featured on the long out-of-print Ryko one-CD set, the Matador version adds a second disc with the rehearsal sessions illustrating the creation of this landmark recording entitled ...And How It Got There. New artwork features never-before seen photos and original artwork by Robyn Hitchcock, along with other memorabilia and brand-new liner notes by David Fricke. Vinyl junkies are rewarded with a Triple-LP (album - bonus tracks - 1979 rehearsals) in a deluxe gatefold sleeve with album-sized booklet and an additional bonus 7" containing even more unreleased tracks, all on 150g audiophile vinyl. It would be very hard to top reissue giants Rykodisc, but with this gracious package Matador have really outdone themselves! Featuring The Soft Boys’ best loved lineup of Robyn Hitchcock, Kimberly Rew, Morris Windsor and Matthew Seligman, Underwater Moonlight is one of the most brilliant rock’n’roll records of that generation or any other. Acclaimed and heralded by critics and musicians alike, this influential masterpiece sounds as powerful today as the day it was first released. Look for The Soft Boys reunion tour this Spring - the first Soft Boys dates in the US in over 21 years! -------------------------------- The Softies "Holiday In Rhode Island" (K Records) CD Pop icons Rose Melberg (Tiger Trap/Go Sailor/Gaze/Three Peeps) & Jen Sbragia (Three Peeps/Pretty Face) return with their first new album in 3 1/2 years. A stunning artistic leap forward, recorded in a house on Galiano Island near Victoria B.C., Holiday In Rhode Island nets classic indie-pop that's quiet and heartfelt. Sweetly sung, delicately strummed pop with tender lyrics, two jangling guitars, two crystalline voices and the occasional piano & drums to color the air. The harmonies between Rose and Jen simply shimmer, brighter and bolder than ever before. This is easily their best record yet!! Listening to The Softies has always felt like peeking into a diary, with no personal detail spared Holiday is no exception as it tells a tale of failed love and a lovelorn heart rivaling the sheer depressive lyrical power of The Field Mice. -------------------------------- Sonic Youth "Goodbye 20th Century" (SYR) Double-CD/Double-LP Sonic Youth wrap up the millennium with an adventurous Double-CD of performances of works by some of the 20th century's greatest composers. Joined by an all-star cast of musicians - Jim O'Rourke, Christian Marclay, Wharton Tiers, William Winant, Takehisa Kosugi, & Christian Wolff - they take on the compositions of John Cage, Steve Reich, Cornelius Cardew, George Maciunas, Pauline Oliveros, and others. In a humorous turn, Sonic Youth youth Coco Hayley Gordon-Moore performs Yoko Ono's Voice Piece For Soprano... 12 seconds of the daughter's screams (a regular chip off the old block.) One of these CDs is enhanced with a video of the band performing the Maciunas piece. 100+ minutes. -------------------------------- Sound, The "Jeopardy/Live Instinct" (Warner UK) CD A year ago former Moon Seven Times member Brendan Gamble lent me a vinyl copy of The Sound 'Jeopardy' and it blew my mind that I'd never heard this great British band from the 80s. This debut delivers energetic, visceral music for the "Our Music Could Be Your Life" set and fans of Mission Of Burma styled guitar workouts. Their follow-up CD From The Lion's Mouth is hailed as the group's masterpiece and as jagged as Jeopardy was, Lion's is equally produced — it's almost like hearing two different bands. Renascent Records have just reissued the bulk of this compelling band's output. Interested parties should begin their investigation with these two essential pieces. -------------------------------- The Soundtrack Of Our Lives "Extended Revelation (for the Psychic Weaklings of the Western Civilization)" and The Soundtrack Of Our Lives "Welcome to the Infant Freebase" (Telegram/Warner Music) Clandestinely classic Rock & Roll from Swedish band, The Soundtrack Of Our Lives, featuring former members of critically acclaimed late 80s/early 90s band's band Union Carbide Productions. These proverbial Godfathers of Swedish Rock resurrected themselves in 1996 as a retro, otherworldly pop/rock/psychedelic/folk juggernaut, and you heard it here first: The Soundtrack Of Our Lives could very well be The Best Rock/Pop Band In The Entire World, and I'm not kidding. The Soundtrack Of Our Lives' narcotic, 60s/70s-influenced bohemian-psych bombast, groovy guitar-pop and bristling electrified rock songs are awash in heady atmospheres, incandescent energies and deep, dark shadows. An epic merging of The Rolling Stones circa 1970 and The Stooges, The Beatles Revolver and The Who, The Doors and Led Zeppelin, viscerally retro and updated with an immense knowledge of modern pop and recording studio wizardry. Each of these discs delivers a stunning universe of sound packaged as an epic album. These discs offer not merely collection of songs, but rather one massive whole. While their 1996 debut Welcome... is a bit more rocking and 1998's Extended Revelation... is a bit more hippy-dippy (not a slur on this occassion, mind you) both of these albums are simply mind-blowing and most Parasolarians ranked them at the very top of our year-end Best Of... lists. Trust us. Very highly, in fact, urgently recommended. “...Considering English is Soundtrack of Our Lives’ second language the lyrics are very good. The production, the sound is big and sleek. The bass is round and fat, and all sorts of interesting things lurk in the grooves like harpsichords and bells and Eastern strings. I can’t see anyone not enjoying themselves with this record. It gives instant gratification yet still continues to grow after many listens. Highly Recommended!” -Steve Kilbey (of The Church) reviews "Extended Revelation" -------------------------------- The Soundtrack Of Our Lives "Gimme Five! EP" (Telegram-SWEDEN) CD-EP Last month we championed them as the world's best rock 'n' roll band, this month they reward us with a peek at their next album. More great songs from these guys. -------------------------------- The Soundtrack Of Our Lives "Behind The Music" (Telegram - Sweden) CD The long awaited new album from The Soundtrack Of Our Lives! As an added bonus, each CD in our initial shipment of 200 copies comes w/a limited 5-song CDEP. Considered by most Parasolarians as the world’s greatest living rock band, Swedish sensations SOOL play clandestinely classic guitar rock! Yes, big bad rock ‘n’ roll (and psych and pop and and prog and folk). This is what happened to early-90s Stooges devotees Union Carbide Productions after key members became seriously infatuated and obsessed with bands like The Who, The Beatles, Arthur Lee’s Love, vintage Rolling Stones, The Doors, The Moody Blues, and Led Zeppelin. Sacred 60s psych-pop meets Bohemian 70s bombast meets 90s (and beyond) interstellar alienation, and my adjectives don’t do this band justice. From shaking Swedish stadiums to your intra-personal head-trip between your headphones, this is pop-music, deep and dark and wide. If you’re already a fanatic for SOOL’s previous essential releases (1996’s Welcome to The Infan t Freebase, 1998’s Extended Revelation…, and last summer’s Gimme Five EP) - and you should be if I’m doing my job correctly - then you’re dying for this like I am. If SOOL hasn’t exploded on your radar yet, start your millennium off right… Right away. -------------------------------- Souvenir "Self-titled" (Shelflife) CD-EP Heralded independent pop label Shelflife Records have made a name for themselves by releasing albums by great international pop bands. They’ve done so with a European flair via Souvenir, a Spanish trio who sing in French. This introduction offers 6 tracks of gently strummed, acoustic jazzy pop with pretty female vocals. The band cite the elite of French pop as their influences and inspiration - Françoise Hardy, France Gall, and Jane Birkin - and also pay tribute to other 60s icons with the song “Dusty” and a cover of The Beach Boys’ “Girl Don’t Tell Me”, complete with French lyrics. -------------------------------- Sportique "Black Is A Very Popular Colour" (Matinee) CD and 10" Debut long-player from English 3-piece featuring vocalist/guitarist Gregory Webster of The Razorcuts, Carousel, Forever People, & Saturn V; bassist Rob Pursey of Heavenly, Talulah Gosh, & Marine Research; and drummer Sir Mark Flunder of Television Personalities & The McTells. Sportique celebrate their love of Modernism, Punk, and Pop via art-school shout-a-thons, country-tinged ballads, and straightforward pop classics. They're possessed of the Buzzcocks' lovelorn bitterness, a twist of Wire, and glitterstomping C86 anthemics, gilded summer sweetness. -------------------------------- Stars "Nightsongs" (Le Grand Magistery) CD Torquil Campbell & Chris Seligman make a strong case for launching "the soft revolution" on their full length debut, Nightsongs LP. With an assorted cast of guest players (guitars, horns, keyboards, strings, beats, and - most notably - gorgeous female lead singers), their gentle guitar-driven, electro-pop conjures the 80s pop of Pet Shop Boys and New Order met with a modern independent pop mindset. Much of the time this reminds me of a less orchestrated version of the Setanta Records band Brian that I've raved to you about previously. Also included here is the cleverly covered version of The Smith's "This Charming Man" from Stars' debut CD-single - a nice addition to a nice CD. Soft and sweet, Stephin Merritt fans take note. -------------------------------- The Steinbecks "Recorded Music Salon" (Drive-In) CD The cool new album from Australian pop duo of Josh & Joel Meadows (both also formerly of The Sugargliders) who have built a strong reputation as craftsmen of fine popular music with 10 years of quality releases on Sarah, Summershine, and Drive-In. From the majestic madness of the opener "No Strings, No Money, No Worries" to the sheer shimmering teenage yearning of "Storm Boy"; from the glowing, glowering mystery of the spiritual in "Precious Burden" to the jingle-in-your-pocket carelessness of a time that's gone in "The Long Walk" The Steinbecks offer something for everyone. Very nice! -------------------------------- Stereolab & Brigitte Fontaine/Monade "Split Single" (Duophonic) CDEP Legendary French Chanteuse Brigitte Fontaine supplies vocals and lyrics to the music of Stereolab on their collaboration Calimero. For those who wish to delve deeper, we've also stocked a few recommended Fontaine discs. This is our 3rd Monade sighting following split 7"s with M and Scott Bond. The Stereolab offshoot featuring Mary & Laetitia offers the track Cache cache. -------------------------------- The Swells "Yesterday's Songs" (Sandwich) CD The full-length debut from this reclusive Austin five-piece who are on the verge of surfacing from beneath their hazy wash of tremelo-ed melodies, co-ed vocals, epic arrangements, and gentle ambient noise. Shoegazing pop of the ethereal variety, rather than the style employing sheets of seesawing guitars - more 7% Solution than My Bloody Valentine. Cool stuff with guitar and keyboards, languid rhythms and shimmery production and including guest guitarwork by James Adkinsson of 7% Solution. The thing I like most about The Swells is that they strike the perfect balance between pop hooks highlighted by melodic male & female vocals and atmospheric guitar rock without sacrificing one for the other. It's an very effective merging of styles that occasionally recalls Galaxie 500 and 7% Solution. -------------------------------- Those Bastard Souls "Debt & Departure" (V2) CD/LP Dave (Grifters) Shouse joined by a crackerjack crew from Jeff Buckley's band, the Dambuilders (Joan Wasser's scene-stealing violin playing), & Red Red Meat. From moody, swaggering rock 'n' roll to acoustic ballads & dreamy psychedelia, they strike a perfect chord with Maker's Mark-soaked, poetic lyrics with a hint of dark underbelly and a dose of road weary advice. Some of the press from V2 unnecessarily dismisses the band's debut album on Darla. While 3 of the songs on Debt & Departure come from the previous album & another originally appeared on the last Grifters album, these versions with the new band are remarkably different & enhance a wholly enjoyable listen. -------------------------------- Tortoise "Standards" (Thrill Jockey) CD & LP Standards, the 4th full-length recording from Chicago’s highly revered Tortoise, boldly announces their return following 1998’s TNT. Members spent most of 1998 and 1999 touring with the band and participating is various other projects such as Isotope 217, Chicago Underground, Brokeback, Pullman, and 11th Dream Day. In the spring of 2000 they began recording Standards. Musically the album is perhaps their most concise statement of purpose thus far. The tunes are direct and immediate, yet maintain the exploratory edge that has always characterized the group’s output. Propelled by an evolving fluency within the studio environment, Standards’ fusion of instrumental sounds (electric, acoustic, and synthesized) is subtle, subversive, and a welcome return. -------------------------------- Track Star "Lion Destroyed the Whole World" (Better Looking Records) CD Better Looking Records is proud to announce the triumphant return of San Francisco's Track Star, a power trio playing sweet and low then surprisingly high-volume guitar pop. Track Star features members of The Aisler Set, Lowercase, and cult faves Blah Blah Blah. You may remember them from such classic releases as 'Sometimes, What's the Difference?' (Silver Girl Records) or 'Communication Breaks' (Die Young Stay Pretty/Subpop), plus a slew of singles and compilations tracks. -------------------------------- Transona Five "Going Away EP" (Drawing Room) CDep Dancing between the shadows of spacey minimalism and lilting pop this Texan spacerock conglom combines their pop approach with trademark reverb-laden guitar textures, drowsy vocals, and the luminous ambience of analog keyboard rigs. Predominantly male vocals come off like a hybrid of Luna, Magnetic Fields, and Seam while their hazy, lazy musical atmospheres echo the gentle, quaalude bliss of Yo La Tengo, Galaxie 500, Stereolab, and Rocketship. Dreamy, droney hypnosis via mellow, guitar-spangled pop. -------------------------------- Trembling Blue Stars "Broken By Whispers" (Sub Pop) CD Robert Wratten, Michael Hiscock, and Annemari Davies add to their pop pedigree with this terrific new album. Alumni of the storied bands The Field Mice and Northern Picture Library, reverence has followed these folks like a lost puppy, & with very good reason - they consistently deliver the goods! This is the domestic debut from these folks in any incarnation and newcomers will not be disappointed. Robert continues to tug at your heart-strings by weaving longing lyrics with a touching sensitivity and the kind of true-life frailty found in the insecurity of the wee hours or the honest reflection of rainy days. Because his self-examination relies on hope, the lyrics are never plodding and don't betray the album's lush pop sounds. Again joined by producer Ian Catt, the music on "Broken By Whispers" serves the same purpose as a great film soundtrack by eliciting the perfect mood - it lifts, it soars, it settles, it soothes. Be they tender guitar strums, electronic backgrounds, or large sw ells, the pieces fit perfectly. -------------------------------- Trembling Blue Stars "Dark Eyes" (Shinkansen) CDEP Bob Wratten and Co. (as TBS, Northern Picture Library, & The Field Mice) have consistently released some of the very best and most touching jangly, dreamy pop of this era. This 4 song teaser to their upcoming Broken By Whispers album - due out early next year on Shinkansen (UK) and Sub Pop (US) - is another wonderful installment. You'll find a (relatively) up-tempo lead track; one of Bob's occasional attempts to re-write guitar lines from The Beatles' Revolver; languid, atmospheric, chiming guitars and pools of reverb; and a bleak final track that's slow, brooding, and trails off in a long, drawn-out wash of noise... a melancholy roar. Once again - beautiful! -------------------------------- Trembling Blue Stars "Doo-Wop Music" (Shinkansen) 7-inch Two new songs on blue vinyl from the post-Field Mice/Northern Picture Library trio of Bob Wratten, Annemari Davis, & Michael Hiscock. Saint Etienne producer Ian Catt still mans the boards and adds his imprint to the mix, too. Doo-Wop Music features a lush, laidback, dubby arrangement reminiscent of trip-hop acts like Massive Attack. The B-side is a marginally more conventional pop song featuring Annemari on lead vocal. These exclusive tunes will not appear on any other format. Fans can expect another single in October and a new album in January. -------------------------------- Trembling Blue Stars "She Just Couldn't Stay EP" (Shinkansen) CD-EP She Just Couldn't Stay is the newest offering from Shinkansen mainstay Trembling Blue Stars. This EP includes the title track taken from the band's Broken By Whispers album, non-LP tracks "Find Her Gone" and "Smoke And Steam" and a re-working of "Her World Beneath The Waves" (originally found on the band's Dark Eyes EP) entitled "Where Norfolk Meets Lincolnshire." -------------------------------- Tristeza "Dream Signals In Full Circles" (Tiger Style) CD & LP The new album from these post-everything (rock, pop, ambient, shoegaze, experimental) instrumentalists, a dramatic/dynamic blend of sultry dream-pop and acerbic art-rock, beautiful and compelling. From the start, the listener is instantly enveloped by the music's gentle warmth, immaculate charm and stunning intricacies. Guitarists Christopher Sprague and Jimmy LaValle (also of The Album Leaf) lead the Tristeza attack with a dual barrage of blissful, complex guitar arrangements. Providing the reinforcements are healthy doses of funk-laden bass lines, atmospheric keyboards and relentless percussion. The band's most accomplished/beautiful recording to date. Guests Bobby Conn (guitar) and Julie Pomerleau (violin & viola). -------------------------------- Al Tuck "The New High Road Of Song" (Brobdingnagian) CD Third album by the Halifax, Nova Scotia scene's unsung hero, Al Tuck - his first for Canada's Brobdingnagian label (home to Heavy Blinkers and The Guthries). This sublime album takes the most soulful elements of Bob Dylan's Caribbean ventures and filters them through a sieve of experimentation akin to Jim O'Rourke and The Sea & Cake. From world-weary country to pulse pounding dub in a heartbeat, Al has created a richly dense music that sounds as if it has always existed. Do you remember the first time that you heard Blood On The Tracks? Well, you knew that you were onto something special then, and believe me when I tell you that you're onto something special now. The New High Road Of Song is a haunting body of work, written and performed by a survivor. -------------------------------- The Twin Atlas "The Philadelphia Parking Authority Must..." (Tappersize) CD The Philadelphia Parking Authority Must Die is a collection of winsome folk and pop surrealism from Lenola/Mazarin/Matt Pond PA member Sean Byrne and collaborator Lucas Zaleski. Home recordings of subtle audio sketches utilizing the blend of Lucas and Sean's voices, a constant layering and harmonizing, and instrumentation of acoustic and electric guitar, banjo, mandolin, keyboard, harmonica and nifty hand percussion. 26 tracks of pastoral shimmering folk-pop for fans of Nick Drake, Flying Saucer Attack, Elliott Smith, Simon & Garfunkel, Yo La Tengo, Damien Jurado, (mellow) Mountain Goats, Summer Hymns, Byrds, and the brevity/fidelity/popsense of classic Guided By Voices. -------------------------------- Velvet Crush "Free Expression" (Bobsled) CD/LP New album from one of the most consistently great songwriting duos of the modern-pop era, Paul Chastain & Ric Menck. Recorded at the Los Angeles home of longtime friend and collaborator Matthew Sweet, Free Expression adds another volume to the band's long line of successes. Sweet co-wrote 2 of the 13 tracks and adds guitar & vocals throughout. Guest appearances also include David Gibbs of the Gigolo Aunts. The album blends glorious pop hooks, cool arrangements and thoughtful, personal lyrics with overall great musicianship and an occasional, Byrds-inspired, country vibe. -------------------------------- Vermont "Living Together" (Kindercore) CD Excellent full-length debut from Davey von Bohlen and Dan Didier of The Promise Ring and Chris Rosenau of Pele follows their recent split single with Ida. A beautiful and subdued collection of songs created as a diversion from their other bands, Vermont deliver sparse strums with a lovelorn appreciation for pop's more atmospheric intimacies. Acoustic guitar, assorted percussion, and an emphasis on melody highlight these 11 tracks. With such simple instrumentation and production coupled with Vermont's focus on vocals, you almost get the feeling that you're in the same room as these guys as they play their songs. Good roommates to have, too. So sit quietly and enjoy. -------------------------------- The Volebeats "Mosquito Spiral" (Third Gear) CD Last year it was The Heavy Blinkers affiliated band The Guthries and this year we’re blessed yet again by pop folks with an affection for the rootsier side of life - The Volebeats featuring Matthew Smith of Outrageous Cherry. The Volebeats have been making heartwarming, rustic Americana-pop records since 1989 and with Mosquito Spiral they deliver their finest album. Mosquito Spiral is a slice of the sunnier side of The Volebeats’ melancholy classic AM radio pop sound. This time the country tinges are laced with sweeter pop melodies, the jangle of a newly repaired 12 string, and some euphoric psychedelic flourishes. Speaking of psychedelic flourishes, Matthew Smith’s songs (he penned 5 of the 12 on the album) send this album into orbit, drenching their trademark Americana mystique in some of Outrageous Cherry’s effervescent 60s West Coast psychedelic-pop legacy with wild harmonies and tons of balmy, Phil Spector-infused reverb. Fellow songwriters Jeff Oakes and Rob McCreedy mine more traditional country and folk veins, seriously rootsy but still pleasingly pop. It’s all about contrasts and cohesion, you’ll know when Matthew takes over, the songs get more dayglo and dreamy, but these fellows know all about putting a record together. This record largely takes me back to the great years of 1985-91 when postpunk and country-ish bands played side by side. I hear a little early R.E.M. and sometimes even echoes of the 60s-inspired melodicism of The Smithereens. Akin to greats like The Silos and Wilco, The Volebeats don’t skimp on melody or a good turn of phrase with their Americana outlook. The Voles are a band that understands the warmth of a campfire comes in second to the warmth of a guitar amp. An exquisite album from these Michigander veterans. -------------------------------- Voyager One "From The New Nation Of Long Shadows" (Loveless) CD Heavy and hallucinatory pop and deeply groovy psychedelic space-rock transcendence from Seattle's Voyager One. A spacey gospel-pop-narcotic like Spiritualized, gargantuan guitar-rock like Loop, psychedelic and dangerous like some of The Verve's wilder output, louder than love like their hometown's grunge heyday but supremely melodic? Includes a terrifically slow-motion cover of The Beatles' "Daytripper" that will land on compilation tapes by all High Fidelity types. For fans of the aforementioned, Spacemen 3, those early Ride EPs, The 7% Solution and Submarine, you'll be absolutely floored! -------------------------------- Jane Wiedlin "Kissproof World" (Painful Discs) CD Jane Wiedlin puckers up to deliver her 4th solo album, Kissproof World. This heralded guitarist from The Go-Go's/Frosted spins 12 tracks of driving pop with great vocals. These melodic songs defined by personal sentiments are Jane's dramatic testimonials to the ups-and-downs of the past few years and move from the playful to painful, reflective to raucous. As illustrated through the racy photographs of Jane (and plaything Dita) in the album's artwork, catchy pop isn't the only fetish on display on Kissproof World. In addition to Dita, guests - musical guests, mind you - include Petra Haden (That Dog/The Rentals), Matthew Sweet, Dave Bassett (ex-Champaign, IL's Lost Luggage), and others. -------------------------------- Wilco "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" (Nonesuch) CD It’s a great springtime listen. The Wall Street Journal may declare that it’s a completely offbeat studio album by industry outsiders, and that may be a fair assessment for the run-of-the-mill set, but you and I have a much cooler record collection than average folks do. C’mon now, it’s simply another really, really good Wilco record. Yes, they’re far removed from their y’all-ternative beginnings, but really, it’s not some super-depressing, Big Star Sister Lovers salvo. It’s undoubtedly inventively mixed and inventively produced and sounds great to these ears, but really, what’s the shocker? The writing has been on the wall for quite some time, hasn’t it? -------------------------------- Harvey Williams "California" (Shinkansen UK) CD Harvey recorded for Sarah Records as Another Sunny Day and later released a solo album, "Rebellion" which hinted at his current direction. He's also played with Trembling Blue Stars, Field Mice, Blueboy, and Saint Etienne... his pedigree is not to be denied! "California" is filled with glistening, keyboard propelled pop augmented with cello, clarinet, violin & flugelhorn. Sunny melodies & harmonies a la High Llamas & Beach Boys; clever piano pop like Plush. Guests Amelia (Heavenly/Marine Research) Fletcher. Produced by St.E/TBStars Ian Catt. -------------------------------- The Windmills "Edge Of August" (Matinée) CD Full-length debut from this English band featuring ace male vocals, catchy melodies, and jangling guitars. Twelve brilliant songs recorded to follow-up their superb Matinée 7" and the band's unforgettable 1988 debut single, The Day Dawned On Me, prove that the band's return is no happy accident, even a decade later! Demonstrating a keen sense of songwriting, clever lyrics, and the lost art of making a guitar shine, they've earned favorable comparisons to indiepop greats The Brilliant Corners, East Village, and The Go-Betweens. -------------------------------- Wooden Stars "The Moon" (Matlock CANADA) CD The new album from this four piece band from Ottawa does a great job of varying things. Sometimes the guitars are twisted and tangled stretching down complex paths, at others the delicate strums take the simple route. The paths converge at lush, tender, and sometimes strained male vocals. Tree Records' Julie Doiron (formerly of Eric's Trip) fleshes things out by doubling the vocals on 3 of the 8 tracks here. While not as musically adventurous as the band's debut, The Very Same, this is an excellent release that will likely appeal to fans of Very Secretary, Ida, and Castor. Very nice, thoughtful pop with a dose of post-emo whatchamacallit. -------------------------------- Yo La Tengo "And then nothing turned itself inside-out" (Matador) CD & DLP Yo La Tengo's 10th consecutive masterpiece is their most organic and cohesive album yet, and their first new release in almost 3 years. In a startling shift of sound, this serene work explores history, marriage and love through a series of interrelated songs. Their most affecting vocal work to date sets off the restrained arrangements, and the result is powerful and moving. Georgia, Ira, and James effectively explore the boundaries of pop and jazz, songs and soundscapes through a quietly intense melange of pulsing beats, acoustic guitar strum, ringing vibraphone and organ washes with electric guitar buzzing underneath dreamy, nearly whispered vocals. Set the volume to medium and listen. -------------------------------- Young Fresh Fellows/The Minus 5 "Split" CD (Mammoth) CD No room to dawdle here, but how’s this for a tie in? A 26 track 2-on-1 CD pairing the new albums by Seattle popsters YFF and TM5 featuring Scott McCaughey (YFF), Peter Buck (R.E.M.), Ken Stringfellow, Robyn Hitchcock, and more! -------------------------------- Various "A Smile Took Over" (Matinee) Double 7-inch A Smile Took Over finds bands covering tunes from the revered Sarah Records catalog. Dear departed Aussie charmers Sweet William cover The Sweetest Ache's Briaris, The Lucksmiths chase down Boyracer's I've Got It & It's Not Worth Having, French dreampop janglers Ego do Blueboy's Stephanie, and Uni (featuring members of The Fairways and Poundsign) cover The Sea Urchin's You're So Much. -------------------------------- Various "Caroline Now!: Songs of Brian Wilson..." (Marina GERMANY) CD A wonderful compilation of lesser known Wilson songs covered by today's pop crop. Included are contributions from June & The Exit Wounds, Eric Matthews, Saint Etienne, Eugene Kelly (The Vaselines/Eugenius), Alex Chilton, Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub), Aluminum Group, Bill Wells (Bill Wells Octet Vs Future Pilot AKA) and Katrina Mitchell (The Pastels), Malcolm Ross (ex-member of Josef K and Orange Juice), Duglas T. Stewart (BMX Bandits), Radio Sweethearts, Kle, Stevie Jackson (Belle & Sebastian), The Pearlfishers, Souvenir, The High Llamas, Spring, The Secret Goldfish, Jad Fair, Kim Fowley, The Free Design, Peter Thomas, and more! 24 tracks. -------------------------------- Various "Fanfare Of 2000!: U.S. Pop Life, Vol. 2" (Contact JAPAN) CD A slice of American indie-pop sent from overseas featuring both exclusive & previously released tracks from Wolfie, The Essex Green, Elf Power, The Music Tapes, The Legendary Jim Ruiz Group, Beachwood Sparks, Macha, Unbunny, The Autumn Leaves, Mollycuddle, Bright Eyes, Marshmallow Coast... 22 trx! -------------------------------- Various "Harmony Of The Spheres" (Drunken Fish) Double-CD Double-CD reissue of material that was originally released in November of 1996 as a specially designed, triple-LP box set produced in an edition of 3,000. The set quickly sold out of its one and only pressing and has remained unavailable since. Collected here are six exclusive, extended tracks (each over 18 minutes) from the creme de la creme of the spacerock scene: Bardo Pond, Flying Saucer Attack, Jessamine, Roy Montgomery, Loren Mazzacane-Connors, and Charalambides. Now that they no longer need to flip albums over, seekers of consciousness expansion can enjoy an uninterrupted opportunity to explore the aural vistas, fluff the beanbag chair, pack the bong, sleep, whatever. -------------------------------- Various "I Made It Out Of Clay" (Little Shirley Beans) CD Little Shirley Beans Records reminds the indie kids that there's more to the holidays than Xmas. Equal time is provided by Casino Ashtrays, Metronome, Lunchbox, Cessna, Jumprope, Boyish Charms, Josh Bloom, Musical Chairs, Teacups, Mesopotamia, and others. Points are awarded to Kisswhistle who cleverly appropriate the music from Elvis Costello's Veronica for their tune Verhanukkah. 20 tracks. -------------------------------- Various "Indie-Aid Abroad: Help For East Timor" (Drive-In/Library) CD An independent pop benefit album with stunning line-up featuring The Steinbecks, The Cat's Miaow, Buddha On The Moon, The Castaway Stones, Hydroplane, The Autocollants, Even As We Speak, Pencil Tin, The Singing Bush, Madison Electric, the Lucksmiths/Ladybug Transistor collaboration The Lucky Ladybugs, etc. A mix of released, unreleased, and previously vinyl-only offerings. -------------------------------- Various "International Pop Overthrow, Vol. 2" (Del-Fi) DCD The pop revolution continues as 42 bands unite to show the world that not only do they have growing numbers, but also a clear vision and message for the people. While Parasoldiers Big Hello, Joe Algeri, and Bikeride joined the battle cry of "Pop Rules" at this year's IPO festival in Los Angeles, this great companion double-CD serves as a manifesto to rally those who were unable to make the trek to the live shows. Featured artists include Big Hello, Jason Falkner, Outrageous Cherry, Liquor Giants, Twenty Cent Crush, The Webstirs, Nerk Twins, Jeremy, Single Bullet Theory, The Idea, and Helium Angel. -------------------------------- Various "Kindercore Christmas 2" (Kindercore/Emperor Norton) CD Kindercore update their popular 1997 holiday offering with a new collection featuring Busytoby, Of Montreal, Dressy Bessy, The Essex Green, Six Cents And Natalie, The Ladybug Transistor Family & Friends, Vermont, Richard Davies, Ciao Bella, Kincaid, The Wee Turtles, and 13 others. A very nice disc with excellent quality from start to finish. -------------------------------- Various "Lights On A Darkening Shore" (Shinkansen) CD Lights On A Darkening Shore is the first label compilation from the acclaimed Shinkansen Records. Because several of the releases included here are now deleted, many of the 19 tracks on this inexpensive sampler are otherwise unavailable. B-sides, previously vinyl-only, out-of-print, single & album tracks from Trembling Blue Stars (4 tracks), Monograph (4), Blueboy (3), Tompot Blenny (3), Harvey Williams (2), Cody (2), and Fosca (1). -------------------------------- Various "Moshi Moshi: Pop International Style" (March) DCD A 40-track follow-up to the label's esteemed Pop American Style compilation, Moshi Moshi takes listeners on "a musical tour around the world" featuring Fonda, Club 8, From Bubblegum To Sky, The Pearlfishers, LeMans, The Leslies, Speedboat, Aden, Spring, Toulouse, Brideshead, Brincando De Deus, Cherry Orchard, Cinnamon, Ray Wonder, and a stop near Parasol Headquarters with Wolfie. -------------------------------- Various "Our Floating Images Of Youth" (Vinyl Japan-UK) DCD & 3xLP Vinyl Japan celebrate their 100th release with a compilation of their indie guitar pop highlights. A 44 track glimpse at a golden age in indie-pop timed nicely with the genre's current resurgence. Northern Picture Library, St. Christopher, Strawberry Story, Allison Statton, BMX Bandits, Fat Tulips, Bugbear, Carousel, Confetti, Gregory Webster, Haywains, Hit Parade, Slumber, Sweetest Ache, etc. -------------------------------- Various "Picnic Basket" (Shelflife) CD Those of you looking for yet more international pop will be well served by Shelflife’s Picnic Basket which visits the US, Japan, UK, Spain, France, Greece, Brazil, Peru, and Australia as it circles the globe with favorite tracks by The Melody Unit, Po!, The Impossible Tymes, The Pearly Gatecrashers, Postal Blue, Sushi, and others (many on CD for the first time). -------------------------------- Various "Popular World" (Sky Blue) CD Great collection of songs on new label run by Dagger Magazine's Tim Hinely. Twenty-three tracks largely comprised of previously unreleased tracks with a smattering of album cuts, remixes, and live versions. Very nice stuff that's surprisingly strong from beginning to end. Includes Parasol's very own Jack & The Beanstalk and St. Christopher (who are reportedly nearing completion of their Parasol debut!) plus Scott Brookman, Kitten Factor, The Cherry Orchard, Happydeadmen, Suretoss, Leslies, Brideshead, Ladybug Transistor, The Mendoza Line, The Shining Hour, Saturnine, The Relationships, Pacific Ocean, The Witch Hazel Sound, Simpatico, Sweet William, Mike Applestein, and more! -------------------------------- Various "Powerpuff Girls: Heroes & Villains" (Rhino/Cartoon Network) CD Just plain fun! A great line-up & solid songs. With any luck the participating artists will seep into the collective unconscious of the kids (and adults) who watch the show and will bring an end to the current reign of Britneys & Bizkits. Music inspired by the cartoon by The Apples in stereo, Bis, Dressy Bessy, Cornelius, The Bill Doss, Devo, Frank Black, Shonen Knife, Komeda, The Sugarplastic, and Optiganally Yours. -------------------------------- Various "Shadows Breaking Over Our Heads" (Apollo/Brobdingnagian) CD We've known about this Left Banke tribute CD for quite a while because it features Parasol sweetheart Angie Heaton covering the band's classic Walk Away Renee. As the roster of bands contributing to the disc grew and grew, what emerged was a veritable who's who of the melodic pop world. Included are Ken Stringfellow, Jason Falkner, Jigsaw Seen, Mark Johnson, Admiral, Frank Bango, The Phenomenal Cats, Jeremy, Flamingo, The Idea, Shane Faubert, The Gripweeds, Starbelly, and a slew of others... 22 tracks in all! A very nice tribute indeed. -------------------------------- Various "Sounds From Psychedelphia" (Lounge) CD Some of the finest homegrown bands around flaunting their latest radiations. Drifting mantras from psych-pop-cultists Aspera Ad Astra, Lenola, Transient Waves, Photon Band, Asteroid #4, Slumber, Azusa Plane, Bent Leg Fatima, Three 4 Tens, and Intro To India. While the different tracks belie a similar mindset, each band puts an individual spin on things. The result is a very cool, consistent compilation that doesn't suffer from hit-or-miss song selection. All tracks are exclusive to this release so hop on your magic carpet & ride to Psychedelphia. -------------------------------- Various "The Gants Never Again!" (100 Guitar Mania - JAPAN) 7-inch Who the heck are The Gants? 100GM Record's Furu - the world's biggest Gants fan - wants the you all to know! He delivered cassettes to Wolfie, Of Montreal, Kleenex Girl Wonder, & Outrageous Cherry in hopes that they would help him pay tribute to this overlooked, 60s, bubblegum pop band from the Deep South. The cassettes did the job & more Gants fans were born. Join the club! -------------------------------- Various "The Tell-Tale Signs Of Earworm" (Earworm) DCD Great compilation collects two discs worth of material. The first features tracks previously released on a variety of singles including Novak, Tank, Avrocar, Fridge, and Ma Cherie For Painting. The second disc is culled from tracks that this highly lauded label would have released had money not been a limiting factor and features The Minders, Wee Turtles, Gwens, and others. The trick here is not the collection itself, but how seamless the discs come off sounding. No hodge-podge of uneven-sounding tracks here, but rather a unified whole which serves as a testament to the sound and vision of both the artists and the label. -------------------------------- Various "You Make Me Smile" (Shelflife) CD 21 songs including album tracks, unreleased versions, previously vinyl-only offerings, and forthcoming tracks from this cool pop label. A great introduction to the label that boasts Majestic, Brittle Stars, The Castaway Stones, Autocollants, Acid House Kings, Sweet William, Whirlaway, The Shermans, etc.! ------------------------ THE CRITIC'S CORNER THE CRITIC'S CORNER THE CRITIC'S CORNER THE CRITIC'S CORNER ------------------------ THE CRITIC'S CORNER in praise of... Mark Bacino "... Like a long lost slab of classic vinyl, Pop Job is eleven three-minute hit singles gathered for your enjoyment... It's impossible to listen to Pop Job without smiling, let alone singing along. How could you not be in a good mood after listening to this? For pop fans, a serious contender for the best release of 1998." -Amplifier "... Bacino has the gift that some of the best songwriters of the 60s had; he touches a special place from our youth with a dozen short, bright, soulful pop songs, and he does it with unabashed elan. If you can listen to tracks like Wonder, Baby Won't Come Down, Inside, and Diggin' That Girl without smiling, nodding your head, and tapping your feet, you must be flat lining... Pop Job... The Long Player is one of the best albums of the year." -David Bash review from Alan Haber's Pure Pop "Pure pop for those who like their '60s pop all written before 1966. Whereas so many like-minded indie-pop purists come up short, this little magical labor of love sounds truly inspired. Sure it's been done a lot over the years, but when it's alive as the best Rubinoos song or Mark Johnson's 12 Songs, I have to say, wow." -Yeah Yeah Yeah In sifting through reviews for Mark Bacino's Pop Job... The Long Player! it's hard to escape words like sunny, sugary, & bubblegum and references to polished popsters like Beach Boys, Rubinoos, Badfinger, Marshall Crenshaw, and - what's this? - 3 comparisons to Tom Hank's favorites the Wonders?! The consensus is overwhelming; if it's melodic, 60s-kissed, harmony-filled pop you're after, look no further!! CD $10.00 / LP $7.50 -------------------------------- THE CRITIC'S CORNER in praise of... Bettie Serveert "First off, this Holland crew's debut, Palomine, really shoulda ranked in Spin's Best 90 album's of the '90s... [With Private Suit they've] grown into a sonic adulthood that finds their cheap thrills spiked with deep ills. PJ Harvey pal John Parish adds brooding keyboards, which give Peter Visser's heroically Zuma-ish guitar some new options. And Carol Van Dyk has turned from indie tuff girl into indie torch singer, tinging her deadpan coo with the sound of heavy mileage, heavier doubts, and even some punkish camp. Her nudie cover portrait - half Dutch masters, half red-light district - sums it up nicely." -Spin "Shouldering a desperate desolation they'd abandoned in the years since Palomine, the Bettie's meld their melancholy into the sort of gorgeous weeping pop Lou Reed used to be so good at. 'Auf Weidersehen' and 'Mariachi Souls' are all tender acoustics and fragile phrasing, Carol van Dyk's gorgeous, reedy alto intoning sorry breakup stories and bemoaning heartless abandonment... Private Suit's more middling tempos allow them to play to their strengths... working inside the delicate frame of slow-plucked guitar and confessional verse. It's what Bettie Serveert has always done best, and to hear them doing it again is nothing short of electrifying." -Philadelphia Weekly "[W]ith the help of noted producer John Parish, [Bettie Serveert] turns down the guitars to let its more mature songwriting speak volumes while broadening its sound with strings, keyboards, backup vocals and acoustic guitars. This subtle new direction perfectly highlights singer Carol van Dyk, who sounds like a modern-day chanteuse as she walks the line between vulnerability and vindictiveness. Revealing the new depth of a band that's been around, Private Suit is Bettie Serveert's most accomplished and personal statement to date." -CMJ New Music Report In August, Hidden Agenda released the 5th long-player by this esteemed Dutch band. For those of you who have strayed from the path since the group's 1993 Palomine, it's time to get reacquainted. You may find, as have I, that this collection of personal and private suites equals or even eclipses their now-classic debut heretofore regarded as the band's masterwork. While many independent bands strive arduously to hang onto their ragged youth, few - like Yo La Tengo, and now, Bettie Serveert - have embraced maturation both personally and musically. Like any fine wine, Private Suit is available at $11.00. -------------------------------- THE CRITIC'S CORNER in praise of... Big Hello "Melding late 70's skinny tie power pop and a 90's rock aesthetic, Chicago's Big Hello have hit paydirt with their debut full length on Parasol, the Apple Album. The Apple Album is a joyride down the power pop highway - these songs were meant to be played with the top down and the CD player loud. - there's the hard rockin' sentiments of 'O' Canada,' 'Today Will Be Yesterday Tomorrow,' 'Colorado Coastline' and 'Kamikaze;' the Beatlesque stylings of 'Sister Mary' and 'I Don't Like You;' and the one reprieve from the guitar blitzkrieg, 'Clouds Over The Mountain.' The band, and lead singer Chloe F. Orwell especially, handle the myriad of styles presented here with great aplomb. Chloe comes across as an inviting mix of the Muff's Kim Shattuck and Liz Phair but with more vocal range and control than her sisters in pop. Although it's still early in the game, the Apple Album is my pick for pop album of the year. They just don't write 'em like that any more - indeed!" -Amplifier "Invented... by former Elvis Bro Brad Elvis and featuring the lead vocals of one Chloe F. Orwell. The Apple Album is pop that's worth sinking your teeth into. Orwell sounds like some sort of a cross between a mouthy, Joan Jett rockchick and a Debbie Harry influenced (circa Parallel Lines) pop chanteuse. Nice." -Amplifier In 1998, Parasol released Apple Album, a terrific dose of power pop hooks & melodies via a new project assembled by Brad Elvis (Elvis Brothers/Three Hour Tour). This week the band release their follow-up, Orange Album, on Break-Up Records and travel to Los Angeles to play at the International Pop Overthrow. -------------------------------- THE CRITIC'S CORNER in praise of... Bikeride "Bikeride have fun and it's infectious. They're all about bright, breezy, farfisa-tinged pop, and what they lack in clout they make up for with brave, off-beat arrangements... [T]he single America's Favorite Omelettes, [is] one fuckin' fantastic song, which is full of twists and turns." • "Anyone who's latched onto the Wondermints should give Bikeride a go; they do Brian Wilson with more spirit and 60's weird with more charm. And remember, every day's a summer's day in Bikeride land!" -Bucketfull Of Brains "The pop renaissance of the '90s owes much of its success to talented, young indie artists like Tony Carbone... Carbone must have studied the pop music of the past four decades very carefully... because Thirty-seven Secrets I Only Told America incorporates a zany but effective mixture of Beach Boys, Burt Bacharach, Prince, Squeeze, and the Pixies into... thirteen original songs. The album showcases a variety of refreshing, quirky, and breezy pop songs... The musicianship is quite ambitious... and it delivers very pleasant results. Carbone and his cohorts deserve to be heard from again." -Amplifier Just back from playing in Japan, Bikeride celebrate their homecoming with the release of a new mini-LP. The Raspet EP holds true to the Bikeride formula of playing upbeat pop with great melodies and a sunny disposition. The band have proven to be a massive hit across the US and in Japan. The 10-inch vinyl Raspet EP is also now available for $8.50. -------------------------------- THE CRITIC'S CORNER in praise of... Braid "Thank God that good, clean-cut punk (the Hanes' basic-colored-pocket-T-shirt kind) still scratches a musical itch in this fickle world. Don't know about you, but I get nervous when I hear a lot of that lo-fi, pathetic aesthetic crap; makes me want to put on an old Circus Lupus CD and take clippers to my hair. When I get in such a mood, bands like Braid restore my faith; the Urbana, IL quartet lays a foundation of jangly guitar and frenetic bass, gravels it up with some jazzy drums and paves the whole thing over with lots of vocals... Love it. Don't let anyone tell you there aren't any great new bands out there as long as Braid is still wound together." -Magnet "This music just drips with honest emotion... it has a high melodic content - no screaming noise, here. The music ranges from quiet and sometimes minimalist, to epic rage, from smooth beautiful pop-like music, to post-hardcore edged stuff... Just as the music is intense and beautiful and honest, the musical skills of the band members don't disappoint. This band is tight and skillful... [T]his is a must-have album for all music lovers." -Jersey Beat These reviews stem from Braid's 1996 sophomore CD, The Age Of Octeen. Due to the band's undying work ethic, constant touring, and near cult following, the album fast became our best-selling Mud Records release. In the years that followed, Braid emerged as the great hope of the post-hardcore/emo/beyond-Fugazi/whatever scene filling clubs and inspiring audiences along the way. But, the thing about bands is that they eventually break-up. Braid are no different, calling it quits last year. Singer/guitarist Bob and bassist Todd have gone on to form City On Film. Todd also runs Grand Theft Autumn records with Very Secretary/The Age Of Octeen drummer Roy. A Braid odds & sods double-CD and a live disc of the band's last show are both due later this month. Until then, the Braid's The Age Of Octeen CD ($10.00) and LP ($7.50) are still recommended. -------------------------------- THE CRITIC'S CORNER in praise of... Doleful Lions "Sixties revisited by modern-day spacers This is what the Beach Boys' 20/20 might have sounded like if you heard it under sedation, from down a corridor, with the pitter-patter of light drizzle in the background. For Doleful Lions, tape hiss isn't a statement or a handicap, it's another instrument. Beneath it, ghosts of 'Like A Rolling Stone' ('Red Top Lounge Flesheaters') and The Amen Corner's 'Paradise' saunter through a perfect Sixties garage decked out as a flying saucer. There's nothing here quite as colourful as 'Black Foliage', by kindred spirits The Olivia Tremor Control, but there's nothing quite as erratic, either. A must for wanderers, tender souls and those who like to look at the world with a lazy smile through a light layer of mist." -Uncut "'Gimghoul Numerologist'? 'Turkish Star Wars'? Titles like these could only portend another set of retro fantasiac pop from this Chapel Hill quintet. For album No. 3, high-strung Alex Chilton aspirations have been pushed aside and Bob Dylan dragged into the opium den; the 22-track result is a beautifully bizarro indie-rock Narnia that dead-rings a lost Radiohead soundtrack to Dungeons and Dragons. One of the most satisfyingly original albums of the year -Gear The heartfelt praise above stems from Doleful Lion's recent release Song Cyclops, Volume One, a collection culled from hours of singer/guitarist Jonathan Scott's demos. While overtly obsessed with B-movie baddies & the supernatural, these allegories are laid bare as the psychological paper tigers for our own inner struggles for understanding. That the songs are buoyed by one of the truest voices around and are also hummable doesn't hurt, as the band drifts from the typical boy-meets-girl pop formula. We're going to delay releasing SC,V2 because the band are heading into the studio to record another full-length first. I was fortunate enough to see the Lions play live at a Parasol showcase in Chicago last summer - replete with female backup singers, they were simply spellbinding. All 3 Doleful Lions CDs are available for just $10. Be forewarned, we're down to our last remaining copies of the Motel Swim & The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves Are Here! -------------------------------- THE CRITIC'S CORNER in praise of... Elk City "Occasionally, an album is released that makes you wonder what the hell happened to indie rock after 1995. The debut from New York's Elk City is exactly one of those records. Within it you'll find all the trappings that used to make indie rock so interesting: space-shifted harmonies, infectious melodies, adventurous tunings and, not least, a sense that these musicians enjoy what they're doing. Light years away from the strictly compartmentalized indie world we live in now - Status is no post-rock/twee-pop/trip-hop genre suicide - the three members of Elk City simply excel in making beautiful pop songs that are as interesting as they are unassuming. Drawing a line that connects the simplicity of Galaxie 500, the etherealness of the good 4AD pop bands and the avant tendencies of Yo La Tengo's better moments, Elk City is striving for some 'otherness' on these 11 songs that belies the fact that the band is only three years old..." -Magnet "The first thing I liked about Elk City was their inability to sit and behave. The songs bound from one odd patch to the next (from juiced folk to bang-zoom pop to electronic curiosities... to name just a few leaps). Scarcely a though is spared for such obsolete, boring concepts as consistency and continuity... Singer/guitarist Peter Langland-Hassan (he's the one with the Ira Kaplan voice, only better) and singer/bassist Renee LoBue (sort of a Kim Deal meets Kate Bush) volley verses back and forth in a reckless and playfully romantic manner amid wheezing streams of keyboard buzzes and drones... Composing and arrangements are never less than catchy and intriguing, but the real bite comes from the unpredictable back-and-forth between LoBue and Langland-Hassan..." -Puncture Fresh off a gig at the CMJ Music Festival and with an Earworm single forthcoming, it's time to remind you of the band's great debut CD. This trio are even more incredible in a live setting, so if you're ever in the neighborhood... Status CD $11.00 THE CRITIC'S CORNER in praise of... Friends Of Sound “Reverb can be a treacherous effect when used to mask a guitarist’s lack of proficiency, but added to the requisite solid songwriting, it enlivens even the simplest of melodies. On Friends Of Sound’s debut, Reed Lochamy gets it right, bathing his three-chord riffs in an affable retro sound... [A]side from the echoing guitar [Reed and his partner Leslie] augment the midtempo sway with banjo, toy percussion and a standard bass/drum/keyboard foundation. It’s all pleasantly reminiscent of early Galaxie 500 or the Magnetic Fields, though it never falls into outright mimicry. Chalk this up to the Lochamy’s unfettered vocals, and a mild yen for pop experimentation that renders Rock-Ola as playful as the name suggests.” -CMJ New Music Monthly “Birmingham, Alabama-based Friends Of Sound (aka Leslie and Reed Lochamy) make lo-budget guitar and drum machine indie pop. Their debut album subverts lullaby melodies (including contributions from five and 11-year-old cousins) with Deep South gothic sensibilities, creating 16 songs with hidden strings.” -Uncut Hidden Agenda swapped demo cassettes with Leslie and Reed for a year as Rock-Ola evolved into its finished state. We’re glad to see folks at college radio and within the music press are finally beginning to catch on to this charmer. Hear sound samples at the Parasol website or buy it now!!! (Hidden Agenda-018) CD $11.00 -------------------------------- THE CRITIC'S CORNER in praise of... Angie Heaton "Drummer/singer/songwriter Angie Heaton (ex-Corndolly & Liquorette) marries power pop and roots rock into a near-perfect union that produces lots of happy offspring. Joined by Weird Summer guitarist Nick Rudd, bassist Charlie Dold and producer Adam Schmitt, Heaton lives up to the title [Sparkle] on eleven pop gems, bursting with hooks and charm." -Pop Culture Press on Sparkle "... Angie Heaton makes her solo debut with a nice eclectic album that goes through almost as many styles as Guided By Voices does beers during a typical concert. The folksy Polly, a bittersweet memoir of a beloved dead aunt, opens Calamities And Restitution and seems to set the stage for a typical singer/songwriter effort. But, before you know it, the brutal kiss-off See How You Are, the stark I Can't Remember and the elegiac Fall prove all bets are off. Playing stylistic roulette is actually a very shrewd move on Angie's part; it not only allows her to show off the depth of her chops, but it helps reduce the chances of her being pigeonholed as the next Phair/Harvey/Amos by rock critics. Anyone who can write pop songs, rave-ups, ballads and dirges as well as Heaton doesn't deserve to get stuck being called the next anybody." -Magnet on Calamities And Restitution As a member of seminal girl-group Corndolly and (hey-don't-you-think-Kleenex-Girl-Wonder-sound-exactly-like) Liquorette, Angie has been at the forefront of the Champaign, Illinois scene for years, but her greatest musical success has come as a solo artist. Angie has released 2 excellent CDs on Mud Records and is currently working on material for a 3rd album while maintaining a busy schedule of local live gigs (and working for Parasol Distribution!). Both discs are available for $10.00. -------------------------------- THE CRITIC'S CORNER in praise of... June & The Exit Wounds "... 'a little more Haven Hamilton, please' is a pop-lite masterpiece for the '90s... While lush, sophisticated Wilson-esque melodies, bouncy piano arrangements, and tight, snappy guitar lines float gently from your speakers (or better yet, headphones) you'll scramble to check the liner notes to make sure that you are indeed listening to a record from this decade. The vocal similarities between Fletcher & Brian Wilson are at times uncanny, and the sweeping harmonies of the backing vocals... will simply delight all those who worship at the church of Wilson." -Amplifier "... [almHHp] is a delightful, melodic melange and a true classic of the soft-pop genre. Multi-instrumentalist Fletcher wears his influences on his sleeve, but the mix doesn't pretend to be copy cat-ish in nature... it is, rather, uniquely Fletcher. You can't go wrong with almHHp. Todd Fletcher has fashioned a beautiful, everlasting kind of album. The group's name aside... there isn't a single misstep here. June & The Exit Wounds carry on the vocal harmony tradition in grand style." -Alan Haber's Pure Pop Todd Fletcher is the mastermind behind June & The Exit Wounds. "a little more Haven Hamilton, please", the band's debut on Parasol Records, is currently available on CD & will soon be issued on LP with a bonus 7" featuring two non-CD tracks. Todd is currently working on the follow-up to almHHp which we hope to release ASAP. (CD $10.00) Uncut Magazine (UK) names June & the Exit Wounds' "a little more Haven Hamilton, please" to it's Best of 2000 list!!! -------------------------------- THE CRITIC'S CORNER in praise of... Novak “Novak is brimming with good ideas... [The band] builds from a foundation akin to mid-period Stereolab, with female vocals gliding above lithe, droning grooves that allow space for occasional cacophony and aggression. It’s Novak’s choice of instrumentation, though, that freshens the equation. The presence of accordion on several tracks is initially unsettling, but Novak establishes it as a viable alternative to Farfisa in anchoring a drone. Airy flute passages inevitably recall Mercury Rev, while toy xylophone and gritty tape loops and rhythm tracks instill a rough-hewn post-rock quality. Tops among several high points is ‘Fruit Cooler,’ in which circular flute and guitar figures percolate for six minutes before an unexpected refrain releases the tension. A skill for repeated, deceptively facile melodies make the disc’s eight extended tracks pass all too quickly.” -CMJ New Music Monthly “Novak’s seven members crank out a formidable wall of sound, one braced by guitar fuzz, painted with pastel female vocals, and decorated with accordion, mallet instruments, and woodwinds... The band’s debut is a handful: eight tracks that vary from trippy bong-alongs to drum-heavy, shoegazing pop. A song like ‘By Peggy’s Well’ is nearly perfect, with Adele Williams’ vocals playing adept hide-and-seek with crystalline guitars and glockenspiel in a bittersweet, snowballing ballad.” -Magnet “Novak’s debut LP reaches us just in time for spring, a refreshing sweep of cleansing melodies, warm instrumentation, and a nice light funk beneath the pastoral swathes. Mixing singer Adele’s graceful, creamy croon deftly within wistful accordion, sparingly deployed oscillator and plaintive recorder as well as traditional guitar, drums and bass, Novak create a form of chilled-out, cinematic folk... [I]f the idea of a school orchestra carving out symphonies to God with Can’s rhythm section holding down the beat is your idea of a good night in, you might wanna give Novak a call.” -New Musical Express "...Novak make a tremulous stealthy music that demands their concentration, that builds and builds and gradually, sublimely bewitches. Stereolab come to mind: songs have that same distracted grooviness, and singer Adele coos and enunciates every word with a suitable precision. When [the songs] swell to a positively symphonic climax - a flute swooping elegantly above the feedback - it's hard not to think of Mercury Rev, too. All very orchestral, then - if orchestras played kindergartens rather than concert halls. Novak's gear includes a mouth organ, a squeezebox, a child's xylophone and a tiny toy piano and, remarkably, these add to the curious, weightless grandeur of it all, rather than appearing as mere trinkets..." -NME "And you though Broadcast were cool... Still looking more like an after school technology class who got lucky than sonic innovators, Novak exude cool by virtue of not caring whether anyone admires their sartorial nous, let alone their thrown-together musical vision. They play some of the most mesmerising music to have seemingly emerged out of nowhere (well, Birmingham) on xylophones, squeezeboxes and live samplers (er, that's crappy tape machines to you and me)." -NME The truth + tragedy of it all? Bands break up. Thankfully their songs live on. Upon hearing that our beloved Birmingham UK septet had called it quits, I was optimistic that they’d splinter into 7 brand new bands. Alas, I’m left waiting, yet still in awe over their magnificent debut. Highly recommended to fans of Delgados, Broadcast, old Stereolab & Quickspace.....$11.00 -------------------------------- THE CRITIC'S CORNER in praise of... Quickspace "Who told this London quintet it could infuse doleful indie-pop melodies into strictly Kraut-locked grooves? Ramshackle and loopy, Precious Falling yearns in all stylistic directions. When it doesn't stomp to 4/4, it sways to a waltz; when it's not ethereal, it's explosive. We never asked anyone to connect the dots between Stereolab, Mogwai and Helium - Quickspace stole the activity book and did it on its own." -Magnet in "Essential Listening: 20 Albums That Mattered in '99" "...There's no avoiding the K-word where they're concerned, but they refuse to let their obvious love of Krautrock define the limits of what they do. Their tunes may be linear, low-slung and hung on repetitive grooves and they seem to drift along in an auto-mesmeric dream, but there's a strummy ease and refreshing breeziness in place of the crisp cerebralness of much post-rock and Quickspace are equally thrilled by cranking up their distortion pedals as they are by picking over needling melodies." -Melody Maker "I don't listen to music with guitars anymore, except for Quickspace." -Raygun Precious Falling, Quickspace's second proper full-length album, made quite a splash last year when it was released stateside by Hidden Agenda Records. Tom Cullinan's fervent followers from his days in Th' Faith Healers merged with new fans along with a slew of press and radio types. The end result? A Top 20 ranking from the folks at Magnet and a new record deal with Matador Records. Their forthcoming album, The Death Of Quickspace, will be available on March 21st. Until then, see why everybody fell for Precious Falling. Available on CD for $11.00. -------------------------------- THE CRITIC'S CORNER in praise of... Sarge "Sarge seem to have zoomed out of nowhere. You can hear the debt this young, Champaign, Illinois foursome owe to riot grrrl in the explosive emotional intensity of their songs. Yet Sarge bring so much discipline, so much spit-and-polish to their particular brand of punk-pop they've clearly stretched beyond the willful amateurish boundaries of riot grrrl... The songs on The Glass Intact are like miniature novels; their narratives collapse into compact, intense spirals... in a voice fragile as spun sugar and tough as polyester... Nervy, hopelessly seductive, and hell-bent for trouble and heartache The Glass Intact peers at the world through a very dark lens - but the sun, with both its menace and its warmth, is never far from view. -Spin "Sarge understand what you need from rock & roll: punk guitars, girlie vocals, power-pop melodies and songs that find new ways to say 'Love stinks.' That's what you get on their second album, The Glass Intact, a stripped-down indie crush party that rocks with staggering sass." -Rolling Stone dubs Sarge "Hot Band of 1998" "Elizabeth Elmore's voice is girlish and cutting. It seems even higher on The Glass Intact... than it did on Charcoal, their blazing, bitter debut... Elmore's guitar playing is about angles and flurries of noise, about obstructions that trip you up or sharp turns you make without thinking... Sarge play swift punk, like Amelia Fletcher's band Heavenly... You never know when the apparent pop song Sarge are playing will turn cruel - when the fun of their music will come clean, when the fun will turn out to be a matter of softening up someone in the song for revenge. Elmore keeps you guessing, and she can make you nervous... She shares attitude - a sonic version of X-ray vision, the sidelong glance that looks right through you - with Corin Tucker of Sleater-Kinney..." -Greil Marcus for Interview Following the release of two highly lauded albums (1996's Charcoal and 1998's The Glass Intact) and countless live shows Sarge recently decided to call it quits. To tie up any remaining loose ends, the band and Mud Records have compiled the posthumous CD Distant comprised of unreleased studio songs along with previously vinyl-only B-sides, outtakes, compilation tracks, and songs from a live set recorded at the very same show documented on Braid's upcoming Lucky To Be Alive CD. Elizabeth assures us that you haven't heard the last of her, so stay tuned! Charcoal, The Glass Intact & Distant CDs $10.00 -------------------------------- THE CRITIC'S CORNER in praise of... Starlet #15: Starlet, Stay By My Side "As fixated (or recently removed) from the neatly groomed carpets of their parents' houses as one would imagine from the titles of the first two tracks here ("I'm Home," "Homewater"), the four aryan Swedes of Starlet sing about the joys and perils of University life with voices borne of high-school ambivalence, replete with supple drumming, warmly plucked guitars and even a touch of melodica (!). Stay On My Side is the sound of long train rides through snow-covered fields and towns, the sound of missing people you've only just left and leaving people you've just begun to miss. Of course, brokenheartedness always translates well into broken English and the presence of Universal Health Care and government subsidized education loom large throughout the 10 tracks (ie, not much to complain about in Scandanavia, outside of being small, picked-on and unloved), but the kids in creative writing classes can make good music too, darn it. Especially when they've clearly listened to groups like Th e Bats and Belle & Sebastian. "I don't know right now / but I knew that I once knew you," sings one of them, before painting nostalgia like Bob Ross painted trees: "Sunday trips in the countryside . . . my skin got stuck to the backseat." When things get too maudlin, Starlet makes indie-pop yeh-yeh tracks about being "In the Disco" -- only problem is the disco is still in Sweden, and, ergo, they play things like "The Power of Love" -- and pining for a "Silver Sportscar." Of course, all it can think to do with its new macho wheels is peel out for, um, "Los Angeles." Which is to say, a soup-fed fantasy land as racy and impossible as that tacky Swedish disco. "It's these wonderfully-indulgent dream-lands that Stay On My Side inhabits so well. Pages of a diary ("Diary and Herself"). Girlfriends' perfume on left-behind t-shirts ("Scent Of You"). Nights in bedrooms "almost" falling in love ("Moving On"). Tiny voices, tiny songs, tiny worries; giant hearts, yellow moons, green fields. And fjords. Great stuff." - from Spin.com's Top 20 of 2000! "Contemporary reality dictates that the members of this superior Swedish guitar-pop ensemble will soon be very sick of the words 'belle' and 'sebastian,' if they're not already. While the two bands share definite similarities - fey, quavering lead vocals, chiming guitars, a sound that's the polar opposite of 'kick-ass,' and, not least, great songs - a too quick comparison not only does a disservice to Starlet's rapidly maturing talent but also denies the influences it shares with Edinburgh's finest. Echoes of Nick Drake, the Smiths and, especially, the anorak-clad mid-'80s British indie scene of Felt and the Pastels waft through the act's second album." -CMJ New Music Report "Sweden's Starlet prove that 'wimp' doesn't have to mean 'limp.' Hailing from Åhus - dubbed 'the Mecca of Swedish wimp-pop' by the local press - the foursome have the requisite indie attributes: glorious guitar-pop feyness, strummy melodies, and lovelorn lyrics. But don't think Belle And Sebastian - Starlet's songs lack the irony and shambolic randomness of their Glaswegian peers'. Which means that when they croon (in English) about silver sports cars and cruising California highways, they really, really mean it." -Spin "... [a] seamless continuum of often heartbreaking, always keenly observed material." -CMJ New Music Monthly Released this past January, Starlet's sophomore album is nothing short of jawdropping. The music is perfectly complemented by the sweet sentiments which are expressed so wonderfully therein that it's amazing that they're doing so in a foreign tongue. Really great stuff that will have you picking up their debut as well. Both are available on CD for just $10.00. -------------------------------- THE CRITIC'S CORNER in praise of... Steve Pride "Steve Pride's Haint which crept out at the end of 1997 showed him to be a rare talent. It was a batch of songs standing comparison with those of the great Texan songwriters of the '70s; the Guy Clark's of this world... Pride is one of those guys who seems to write songs in the same way that other people breathe. He's a natural storyteller who can build a world with a few choice lines and as a singer he makes those words live... It's extraordinary to think that these [songs] almost got away and it would be scandalous if their belated release passed unnoticed." -Bucketfull Of Brains on Steve Pride & His Blood Kin's Pride On Pride "In the classic tradition of acoustic troubadours and world-weary travellers, Steve Pride can hold his head up and recount the fallow years with gritty conviction... Pride strums while Wilco's Jay Bennett adds dobro, mandolin, & affectionate harmonies. Syd Straw wispily weaves her way through the background, but it's Pride's wordy storytelling that holds court." -Mojo on Haint "Before there was No Depression or 'Alternative Country,' there was just fuckin' good bands like Steve Pride And His Blood Kin. I liked them so much I stole their guitar player." -Jeff Tweedy of Wilco Steve played with numerous bands previously, but when he formed the Blood Kin he really hit his stride. As word of mouth spread, clubs filled with people (mostly smokers - it seemed) as Steve & his boys played great songs with reckless abandon. The band's posthumous collection, Pride On Pride, showcases these formative years. With Haint, Steve further honed his craft (without a full-time band) to deliver a more polished, yet just as immediate album. Following Haint, Steve relocated from Urbana to Asheville, NC where he continues to write tunes, raise a family, & build birdhouses. Both CDs $10 each. -------------------------------- THE CRITIC'S CORNER in praise of... Sugarbuzz "...Leach has quietly amassed a catalog of beautifully melodic, inventively arranged, soulfully sung pop that contains familiar elements that bring to mind names like Badfinger, Cheap Trick, the Beach Boys and '80s new wave, but ultimately sounds like no one else. The pop scene's continuing ignorance of Leach and his exceptional body of work is a mystery... [Sugarbuzz] recorded two albums, Three Mil Thick and the brilliant Submerged, possibly one of the greatest unknown pop records of the '90s, which includes his masterpiece 'Halo'." -Amplifier "Pop-rock enthusiasts enamored with the genre's glossiest, most melodic sounds ought to listen to Sugarbuzz to soothe their depression over the breakup of bands like the Posies... Submerged is a triumph of rich vocal harmonies, sweet guitar tones and lyrical heartbreak that seamlessly combine to create a dizzying high not unlike the feeling described by the band's name." -CMJ New Music Report "You get everything you need from the names. Sweet, electrifying and happening - the second record from this Chicago-based band will leave you literally submerged under a tidal wave of classic pop/rock influences. Fresh and familiar at the same time, Sugarbuzz can do no wrong with their amalgamation of Beatles, Stones, Bowie & Todd motifs... [S]ublime tunes; top notch performances; frothy guitar licks and major label production values." -Blank Pages The Brian Leach led band Sugarbuzz released CDs in 1996 + 1998 that crackle with life, electricity and crystalline production. Brian's affinity for releasing great records is rivaled only by his affection for playing music - having played solo and with Last Gentlemen, Sugarbuzz, Autoliner, The Great Crusades, and Diamond Star Halo. Currently available on Parasol Records are both Sugarbuzz CDs and the recent Autoliner CD/LP "Life On Mars" on which Brian plays guitar and shares vocal duties. -------------------------------- THE CRITIC'S CORNER in praise of... Very Secretary "Champaign, Illinois based Very Secretary is a quartet with a polite, homey sonic texture. Cleanly picked guitar meshes with violin to create a comfortable sound somewhere between alt-country and the aching melancholy of Big Star's somber side. The band is almost pathologically understated, with Dave Johnson apparently reluctant for his vocals to upstage the gentle instrumentation. Songs like Sister Psyche (gee, there's a Big Star title!) exude a cozy back porch aura reminiscent of indie-era Elliott Smith (whose voice Johnson's resembles, albeit with less rasp)... Rachael Dietkus' violin is so integral to Very Secretary's sound that it's hard to fathom that she joined the band (replacing a second guitarist) after its 1998 debut." - CMJ New Music Monthly "When the quiet acoustic picking of Feeling Cheated introduces us to Very Secretary, an immediate Elliott Smith-like vibe fills the air... A well produced record sees brainy Chicago-indie song structures from various sources coming together - the instrumental athletics of a Sea & Cake teaming with the string sensibilities of a Rachel's. Presentation aesthetics are even a priority as David Johnson's colourful paintings grace the album's artwork." - Exclaim "Very Secretary's songs have a gift for finding a sliver of brightness, breaking things open and leaving the listener swirling in a heaven of violin and guitars." - on-line 'zine Pillowfight With Standing In The Shade, Very Secretary released one of 1999's finest albums. The sophomore effort shows much growth within an evolving band: the songwriting is natural, the vocals are assured, and the instrumental make-up has found the proper players and perfect mix. The result? Achingly beautiful musical and lyrical poetry. Both VS CDs available @ $10 THE CRITIC'S CORNER in praise of... Vitesse “By far the best synthpop record of the year... Vitesse do not take the traditional approach to electronic music. Rather than a bass-heavy sound that relies on factory presets, they have a sound that is more trebly and almost acoustic... The result is a sparse but rich sound with warm double-tracked vocals stacked on top... [T]hey create interesting, intertwining rhythms with the music. Drums are used (drum machines that is), but the rhythm of the music comes from the way it weaves in and out of itself. Often as fine and complex as some sort of spiderweb, the music occasionally seems to hardly be there. [T]he song titles hint at a clever sense of humor... and they do a cover of Cheap Trick’s ‘Southern Girls’ which, frighteningly enough, fits seamlessly into the rest of the album. An absolutely brilliant album, full of textures and feelings that would fuel the career of a lesser band. Highly recommended.” -Lexicon “...Mixing programmed beats and keyboards with the occasional guitar and bass melody, Vitesse’s songs provide the clarity of synth-pop acts such as New Order while still keeping its humanity close to its heart. Whether working its synthetic angle, as in ‘Good Fortune,’ a track entirely filled with subtle keyboard melodies and unerring programming, or mixing in traditional instrumentation with its bit-head melodies, as in ‘Brighter than the Sky,’ featuring ghosts of subtle guitar work, Vitesse crafts songs with both distance and familiarity. Throw in layers of airy vocal harmonies throughout the record, and Vitesse makes its synthetic offerings sound strangely human...” -Aversion.com “...should be the blueprint for lo-fi indie folks who want to give early ‘80s synth pop a new twist." -Yeah Yeah Yeah -------------------------------- THE CRITIC'S CORNER in praise of... Weird Summer "What a voice. That is the first and lasting impression left by Bob Kimbell, the creative dude behind Weird Summer. Kimbell writes and hangs with the remarkable Jack Logan, but there is none of Logan's beer-fueled laxness here. Instead, Kimbell sings his well-crafted guitar pop tunes in this high, wistful voice, which recalls Neil Young - if Young could hit all the right notes..." -Magnet on Incarnata Mysterica "By now, Chilton disciples are into their third or fourth generation. And that's not counting Chilton himself... But few of the thieves, knockoffs, acolytes, and honestly inspired Chiltonites were tuned in to the deep-south aspect of his gift, the madness that comes out of Memphis, and the lingering, seething melancholia that informs Chilton's headiest work. Weird Summer lead singer Bob Kimbell apparently understands this better than anyone... Nick Rudd's legato guitar playing, spiced with twang here and fuzz there, gives off an edgy vibe... stellar melodies enhanced by tight harmonies avoid No Depression country-pop status, a looming specter in places. If many of the best moments suggest Big Star the Fourth, or Chilton Redux, the idea of Chilton backed by a sympathetic band who knows all the songs is still pretty promising." -Puncture on I.S.O. Formed in Champaign during the mid-80s, Weird Summer have sporadically released 4 great albums (collected over 3 CDs). Bob and longtime collaborator Jack Logan released their heralded Little Private Angel CD in 1998. (Hopeful) future plans include releasing a CD of Bob's demos & duets as well as his Diamond-Star-Halo collaboration with Adam Schmitt and Brian Leach - 95% completed it currently sits on a shelf... Nick recently released One Track Mind, his first solo CD since the 1993 disc under the band name Blown (fewer than 25 copies remain). All these CDs and more available for $7.50-$10.00. -------------------------------- THE CRITIC'S CORNER in praise of... Wolfie "Hot on the heels of last year's Awful Mess Mystery, Wolfie are up to the task of following up that solid batch of tunes... Boy/girl (mostly boy) vocals, whistling keyboards, and a cheeky, but oh-so-slightly-twee vibe makes for an ace combination. Listening to the skeletal pop bliss of 'Mr. and Mrs. Season' and 'You're Lucky I'm Skinny' will provide more motivation to start a band than anything else you'll come across. For Wolfie, it's not just a matter of infectious songs, it's the simplicity of their craft that's so awe inspiring." -Big Takeover on Where's Wolfie "There's something ingenious about Wolfie's simplistic take on indie-pop. With precociously sweet male/female vocals, jaunty organ melodies and crudely bashed-out rhythms, the band's appeal is inarguably one of pure, cute fun. [Wolfie] also instills its songs with a certain fresh-faced urgencythat turns its typically sub-two-minute bursts into clever celebrations of youth... with deceptively sharp melodic ideas and irrepressible energy." -CMJ New Music Report on Where's Wolfie "Awful Mess Mystery is hotblooded garage pop from Urbana, Illinois, with boy-girl vocals, Velveeta keyboards, sha-la-la hooks and thirteen sturdy tunes in four minutes. Theme song: 'Hey It's Finally Yay.' " -Rolling Stone With 2 new singles and recent offerings by side-projects Busytoby & Mathlete, we spotlight Wolfie this month. The band's 1998 debut, Awful Mess Mystery (Mud Records), is available on CD and 10-inch and 1999's Where's Wolfie (Parasol) is available on CD and LP as is that album's "Ginger Ale Yawn" 7-inch. Parasol's Busytoby album is also on CD/LP. CDs $10.00, 10"/LP $7.50, 7" 50¢ |