frog eyes

i've mentioned frog eyes here before but after seeing them play with beirut recently i feel obligated to mention them again. i had sort of mixed feelings about beirut as you can see below and seeing these guys live confirmed pretty much everything i thought before. beirut was nice but failed to excite. i just couldn't sense any sort of emotional investment in their music. to be fair this was their second show (or so they claimed).
but there do seem to be an awful lot of bands these days that are making 'nice' music - sonically, that is. but a lot of it sounds kinda hollow to me. personally, i blame sufjan. though i wouldn't lump in with these bands. but i think he has set the trend, accidentally, by using 'different' instruments and i think some people miss the point and mistakenly think sufjan's music is good because he plays a banjo. i guess beirut isn't the worst offender - i still like them but i just wished they'd inject some passion into the music. to me, someone like patrick wolf, another youngster, would be far more deserving of the hype.

or frog eyes. this post was supposed to be about frog eyes but all i want to say is frog eyes does exactly what beirut is missing, they are raw and they spit passion. a song from the folded palm is above. and, oh, since these guys deserve some hype - this is spencer krug's (wolf parade) other (sunset rubdown), other band. though i suspect this is more carey mercer's band - who incidentally reminds me of screaming jay hawkins...

tenement halls

tenement halls released the unappealingly titled "Knitting Needles and Bicycle Bells" last year and I guess I was a little late catching on to it. tenement halls is, from what I gather, essentially Chris Lopez who used to be in the Rock*A*Teens, which I never really listened to but I did like the few songs I heard and I was always going to check them out. Anyhow, for those of you in the know, tenement halls sounds a bit like the Rock*A*Teens (or at least how I remembered them sounding). There is something very likeable about that sound - somehow I always picture tenement halls playing small sleazy dark clubs with everyone sitting at the bar paying little attention to the band. Don't ask me why. tenement halls would also be a good for a David Lynch movie. If you like the song above you can check out a few more here.

beirut

beirut's first album has been getting quite a lot of attention and there are probably good reasons for that. or least a good reason - it sound quite a bit like the legendary Neutral Milk Hotel, which is probably not a coincidence since Jeremy Barnes of NMH assisted with the making. but basically this is the work of a yet another 19 year old wunderkind. at any rate, it sounds pretty nice but it is also a little restrained and, as a consequence, it feels a little bit gimmicky. i mean, if I was 19 and could make music like this i can't help but feel that there should be a greater sense of urgency. but still, a perfectly enjoyable album. Mount Wroclai (Idle Days)

mustafa et monique

there are still a few people out there waiting for my bloody valentine to release a new album. these people served as the definition of "optimism" in the hipsters dictionary. then these people were to be moved to the definition of "a dreamer" but by then mbv had fallen out of favor. however, now that shoegazing is making a comeback these people again have useful function in the definitions of "disillusioned" and "just plain crazy". at this point i'm not sure a new mbv album would be desirable at all. besides, the swedes mustafa et monique seem to do exactly what mbv used to do and do it quite well. you might hold it against them that they sound eerily like isn't anything era mbv. in most instances that would be something to complain about but what always liked about mbv was the sound on isn't anything (loveless was good too but i favour the rougher sound). unfortunately, these guys appear to copy mbv's every move since they haven't released anything since 2004 (i think). [correction: mustafa et monique released houdini aubergine ep in 2005.]

ecstasy like you
mailman bike

islands

the unicorns were quite a brilliant band and i was terribly disappointed when the broke up. but at least the band's members didn't give up on music and went on (some/all ... i don't know) to form islands. perhaps not quite as brilliant as the unicorns (more polished, less manic) but it is a pretty damn good album nevertheless. rough gem from return to the sea.

the double

somehow i missed this album when it came out last year. maybe there isn't really a reason why i should have noticed. but if there is it is definately the song idiocy, which is pretty much a perfect indie pop hit. it is actually good to the point it almost seems too calculated. and there is a bit of annoying killers type of sounds to it but if you can ignore it. of course, having said that you probably can't. much like igor ruined heineken for me by saying it tasted like olives...

the walkmen

the walkmen have a new album out on may 23rd. something to look forward to. there is a song on their myspace page (link above) and it sounds, well, sort of strange. it's still the walkmen's signature sound but the song is a little country... and mariachi. i kinda hope that the rest of the album is bit more raucious.

do make say think

i do seem to make my way back to do make say think every once in a while. & every time i wonder why i don't listen to them constantly - which may sound like a backhanded complement but isn't intended to. basically, these guys are liable to outlast 94% of my record collection although at any given time i may fall in love with some other band. i can't really pinpoint exactly what it is but do make say think also sound a lot like broken social scene to me. without the pop sensibility. something about these bands sounds seems very similar to me. at any rate, if you haven't checked them out now is as good a time as any.

tapes 'n tapes

i don't really know much about this band except that i find them entertaining. in sort of the arcade fire/wolf parade way... although they seem a bit more chaotic in sort of a unicorns way. but to the best of my knowledge they are not canadian. something about them also reminded me of namelessnumberheadman (a truly stellar band).

tv on the radio's new album finally sees them live up to their potential. i found desperate youth... rather disappointing and completely failing to capture what the band was like live. now they managed to be rough and hyper-melodic at the same time. this may just be the album of the year. the same can not be said for yeah yeah yeah's soon to be released album. it it perhaps best described as competent pop. good work music. it will probably be very successful. but if you liked the first one you will probably like this one as well.

i have also come to realize that the best album of 2004 was probably castanets' cathedral. here is a song: three days four nights

jason forrest

jason forrest started out by releasing stuff under the name donna summer, which is fitting b/c his/her music borrows heavily from other artists. technically an electronic album but it is really a rock beast in spirit. lots of fun to be had here.

jason also runs a record label called cock rock disco and here you can find a free compilation with a bunch of artists on his label.

The song above is satan cries again but for a far more rockin' song check out the video for war photographer.

the comas - the science of your mind

came out in 2004 but i still like it.

the rosebuds

i am one of those people that believe that bands are never better than on their first album. it probably has more to do with me craving something new (except when the band is mono) than anything else. i might have like a band's second album more than the first if it had been released first. maybe. we'll never know. at any rate, the rosebuds are an exception to this - first time around the struck me as decent pop-rock but nothing remarkable. but on birds make good neighbors the rosebuds have transformed themselves and deliver a set of songs that are, well, solid. they are not breaking any new ground here though, their songwriting has just improved vastly. good stuff. almost up there with the best of 2005.

man man

this band had me confused for a while. the reviews referenced tom waits and captain beefheart so i know i was supposed to like this. and i tried. it just didn't click. then i saw them live and i realized that i had completely misunderstood this band. these guys have more in common with the make up than tom waits. but instead of attacking funk and sould they deal in ... gypsy music.. or something like that. the tom waits references are understandable because of the instrumentation but that is really where the commonality ends. this is just a huge, huge blast of fun. though it may not sound it at times. you should buy the album but you must see them live.

Giant Drag

if the album kept up pace with the first song, kevin is gay, this would possibly be the best album to be released all year long. I can't quite place the song but it reminds me of the first time I listened to the Breeders. The only thing that makes it anything short of f**ing brilliant is that it's not terribly original sounding and essentially recycles, well, the breeders and my bloody valentine. but then again recycling is a good thing, right? in this case it is. the mbv influence is especially obvious on the first couple of tracks and, although such obviousness is a little off putting, I got over it pretty quickly and frankly there are far worse influences to have. sort of similar to autolux in that way - solid without reinventing the wheel.

are you there?

i guess I got tired of listing my favorite albums from last year... it's just too last year to really bother. at any rate, 2006 is already shaping up to be a stellar year for my tastes. mogwai's mr. beast is a monster of an album that even makes my want to revist their old stuff. and now i find out mono is bringing out a new album in april "there you are". steve albini records and mixes but mono produce the album themselves. at any rate, the first song of the album (linked above and available at mono's website) is pretty much everything you would expect from mono. so pretty much the same old, same old but in the case of mono I would never dream of asking for anything else.

BO05 - Red Sparowes

a great year for instru-metal clearly. treads the same waters as pelican but probably tops it thanks to some nice slide guitar. seeing them play live had me grinning like a fool for days.

WO95 - Art Brut

another huge disappointment - a band called Art Brut should be good + they released an entertaining single in 2004. Art Brut is a band that you either love or you hate. i belong to the latter category. sure they are fun but the problem with jokes is that you can only really laugh at them once, maybe twice if it is really good. after that you at most fake a laugh to be polite when you're told the joke for the n-th time. in this case i can't even do that because i find it offensive that music should be the vehicle for humour. that's even worse than dealing with politics. is there really any point to put music to your jokes? does it make the jokes better? i just don't get the idea. plus the music itself is not that exciting. maybe that's the point - the jokes serve as a distraction? still like the name though...

BO05 - Silence Kit

Pieonear. If I was absolutely forced to pick one album as the best of '05 this would have to be it (though technically it came out in '04.). i don't really know how to describe it - i guess post-rock wouldn't be far of but then it is more ambient in places and in others sort of radiohead kind of groovy. one of the very few albums this year where i would simply have to put whatever i was doing at the time and just listen. perhaps not enterily consistent in its greatness but there are moments here that are just amazing. oh, and these guys are from russia so don't confuse them with the u.s. band that shares their name.

BO05 - Pelican

The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw was a little less metal than the bands previous effort but no less engaging. at any rate, it wasn't too surprising that Pelican would release a split ep with Mono since the bands seem to share the same vision.

WO05 - Serena Maneesh

Another band I was really pretty excited about - shoegazers usually get a bad rep & here was one that was getting great reviews. But in the end it was just a record that pitchforkmedia 'discovered' before everyone else: " We understand that some records recommended by Pitchfork can be difficult to find. Please visit Honeymilk for more information on this release, including how to purchase it." Well, wish I was that cool. Strange though how albums featuring blonde Norwegians always get a great reviews.... recall Annie? At any rate, new shoegazers are sprouting like mushrooms (paik comes recommended) and this not among the tasty ones. Serena-Maneesh does the shoegazing bit pretty well - and there are bits and pieces that sound splendid - but you can't really get more derivative like this. There is a my bloody valentine song, a stone roses one, a primal scream (crappy gospel area) one, and you can go on. This is just pure nostalgia with not an original idea in sight. Here is to hoping that they will come up with some of their own songs next time around.