Metronomy - Love Letters

Metronomy
Love Letters
10 March 2014
Because Music

3.5 stars out of 5

 

Metronomy’s fourth LP, Love Letters, mixes various styles, from indie pop noodling to post-rock moogling, but retains a unified sound and feel throughout. Joseph Mount & Co. somehow manage to touch on both the Athens, Georgia, indie pop scene of a decade and a half ago and the dance punk scene of post-9/11 NYC. It’s fun for the whole family! Unless you come from a family of losers.

“I’m Aquarius” is a smooth indie soul track à la The xx, full of nervous energy and tension. “Love Letters” is baroque electro-indie pop, featuring a saxophone intro and a trumpet outro. The band goes deep into the odd with “Month of Sundays,” an indie pop excursion into a parallel universe where Mary’s Danish perhaps still exists. “Call Me” crosses over into Hot Chip terrain, with off-beat keyboard riffs flittering over and under urgent falsetto vocals. “The Most Immaculate Haircut” is a testament to hipster friend-ditching, with a detour through the marsh at night. Metronomy engage full-Moog mode with “Reservoir,” while the closing track, “Never Wanted,” is a quiet, guitar-based lament.

While a lot of Love Letters has a really handmade feel to it (not a bad thing at all), the compositions are interesting and accomplished. This album should win Metronomy some fans beyond the NME crowd, although if you pick what to listen to based exclusively on NME then you clearly already have enough problems of your own to worry about.

reviewed by Richard Krueger

Carla Bozulich - Boy

Carla Bozulich
Boy
4 March 2014
Constellation

4.5 stars out of 5

 

“I’m gonna stop killing today, make better use of my hands.” Carla Bozulich means business on her latest LP, Boy. One of the great unsung songwriters of the last thirty years, Bozulich has been a founding member of such acts as the Geraldine Fibbers, Ethyl Meatplow, and most recently Evangelista. Boy is a powerful new entry in her already impressive discography, an album that reaches into some dark corners and pulls out some nasty monsters to analyze in Bozulich’s confessional lyrical mode.

Bozulich launches the first volley with “Ain’t No Grave,” a dizzy, inside-out jazz meets post-punk interpretation of the blues. The next shot is the Tom Waits multiplied by Einstürzende Neubauten cacophony of “One Hard Man,” and it drives its shrapnel deep into our helpless flesh. Basically, after barely more than six minutes at this point, Bozulich has already blown away most other 2014 releases so far with these two tracks. “Drowned to the Light” is a haunting take on an Appalachian murder ballad. “Danceland” melds dub with jazz brushes and atmospheric electronic bleepings in telling an urban folk myth. After the almost menacing “ballad” that is “What Is It Baby?” the album closes with “Number X,” a chilling, mostly instrumental exercise that feels like an audio poem—the kind of poetry that is both warmly comforting and wildly aggressive at the same time.

This record is excitingly dark. It’s dark in a positive, powerful way. Part unhinged Americana, part jazzy no-wave, the music of Boy is as complex and inspiring as the artist who made it. Miss it at your own risk.

reviewed by Richard Krueger

Blood Red Shoes - Blood Red Shoes

Blood Red Shoes
Blood Red Shoes
3 March 2014
Jazz Life

4 stars out of 5

 

Okay, full disclosure up front: Box of Secrets, the 2008 debut LP by Blood Red Shoes, is one of my absolute favourite records of all time. Since then, well, I’ve been disappointed. Their second and third records embraced polish and smoothness to the detriment of power and intensity. But! Produced by the band themselves over a six month period in one of my favourite Berlin neighbourhoods (Kreuzberg), the indie punk duo’s self-titled fourth LP discards the glossy indie rock of their last two outings in favour of plenty of noise, fuzz, grit, grrrr, and also GRRRR. Alles ist gut.

“Everything All at Once” is rough, jagged, nasty, and in your fucking face. Yeah, I mean you. Your face. By the time the buzz saw riffs of “An Animal” start ripping into your flesh (yes, your flesh), it’s clear that Blood Red Shoes is a return to the primordial Blood Red Beast that pulled itself out of the primordial Brighton ooze way back when and brought a shit tonne of noise. “The Perfect Mess” is as vital as any White Stripes garage freak out. The pop side of Carter & Ansell makes an appearance with “Behind a Wall,” a snazzy tune which should be filling the airwaves of college radio stations across Canada this Spring (but you know it won’t because of reasons). “Speech Coma” is fierce and ferocious, like that sound your stomach makes when you’re trying to find a döner in Neukölln and, inexplicably, all four döner shops on your street corner are closed for the night. (This scenario would obviously never happen, as none of those places ever closes. Not. Ever.)

Even the more intricate arrangements on this record, such as “Cigarettes in the Dark,” are infused with dark energy. The band’s taking control of its own process seems to have given it a new, intense, and—yes—sexy life. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to listen to this record again. Loud.

reviewed by Richard Krueger

Real Estate - Atlas

Real Estate
Atlas
4 March 2014
Domino/Mexican Summer

3.5 stars out of 5

 

Atlas is Real Estate’s third proper LP, and the New Jersey band seems to have found a very cozy musical place within it. While this might be seen as code for “they’ve got a sound and they’re sticking to it,” in reality it… okay, it means they’ve got a sound and they’re sticking to it.

“Had to Hear” begins things in a lazy Mazzy Star-without-the-junkie-mumbling manner. One thing that Real Estate are is tidy—there’s not a feedback squelch nor a pre-singing inhalation to be heard. Nor will you find any unnecessary drum fills or wonky time signatures in this band’s music, as all of that would break the spell and toss you out off the moment. Where does that moment situate itself? In a cabin by the lake, with you, David Roback, Georgia Hubley, and (though his agent would never let him admit to participating in such an event) perhaps a somewhat sober-ish and sedated Liam Gallagher. You’re on bass, obviously (but try to resist your Carlos Dengler aspirations, please). As your new band begins track three, “Talking Backwards,” it’s becoming clear that this collaboration has some spark to it, although Liam keeps asking between songs if there’s a decent Chinese take-away on this block. Reminding him that you’re in the middle of the fucking woods, you break into “April’s Song,” a sedate but still appealing instrumental full of tremolo. This gives Liam time for a much needed pee break, as he’s knocked back four lagers already since “Had to Hear.” Regardless, you’ve found a nice, mellow (but definitely not dirty flaky hippy) groove and you’re sticking to it. “The Bend” and “Crime” continue the Mazzy/Tengo session.

This is not at all a jam session, as (like I noted before) you guys are tidy. Everything is very precise here, with no room—or need—for improvisation. You get to show off your bass skills a little on “Horizon,” and then as things come to a close with “Navigator,” everyone is close to nodding off, circling the fireplace with beers in hand and contented smiles on faces. Until Liam gets a craving for curry and chips, anyway.

reviewed by Richard Krueger

The Men - Tomorrow's Hits

The Men
Tomorrow’s Hits
4 March 2014
Sacred Bones

3.5 stars out of 5

 

If Bruce Springsteen had gone punk circa Darkness on the Edge of Town, it probably would have sounded something like “Dark Waltz,” the opening track on The Men’s fifth LP, Tomorrow’s Hits. It’s got that ode-to-the-working-man kinda feel to it, even breaking out the harmonica at one point. There ain’t a hint of noise rock in all of these eight tracks, though there are several unhinged moments where the band definitely refuses to colour inside the lines.

“Another Night” is where the saxophone makes its debut, things speed up a few bpm, and The Men rock out for five and a half minutes on what is essentially two chords. It’s got a bit of ‘70s bar band nostalgia, part The Boss and part Nick Lowe. “Different Days” is full of similar energy—the lyric “I hate being young!” is featured prominently in the chorus while the band races ahead on less notes than you can fit in one hand. “Pearly Gates” blows the lid off the proceedings, exploding into Billy Zoom-meets-Captain Sensible mad riffage for over six minutes of—gasp!—punk rawk meets jam band (?!) craziness. “Settle Me Down” is a mellow romp through a field full of British Psychedelic daisies. I keep expecting to see Ray Davies in the credits for that song.

While The Men might “hate being young,” let us hope they keep down this path they’ve chosen and avoid the dreaded “artistic maturity” that ruins so many a promising career. Tomorrow’s Hits might not require close listening to ferret out all the fine details, but it’s still an accomplished work that manages to put forward a unique sound despite its myriad of influences.

reviewed by Richard Krueger

We Are Scientists - TV en Français

We Are Scientists
TV en Français
3 March 2014
self-released

2 stars out of 5

 

Oh, look at that, We Are Scientists have a new record. TV en Français is their fifth studio LP, and—points for consistency—it’s just as bland and unmemorable as all of their previous body of work, so forgive me if I get distracted by more interesting things—such as my half-empty glass of lukewarm water and the small unidentifiable stains on the wall next to the thermostat—during this review.

The opening track, “What You Do Best,” is a mélange of several tricks and treats from Antics, de-clawed and de-boned for your safe consumption. “Make It Easy” is that ‘90s “alternative pop/rock” song you get stuck in your head sometimes because some shitty radio station in the convenience store is playing it when you have to make an emergency run for condoms. You end up belting out the chorus during your climax, ruining the whole evening and really creeping out your girlfriend. Sorry, dudes, that song is on this record. It’s gonna make her leave you. Since the rest of the record appears to be just more alt-‘90s variations, I’m going to finish my breakfast (sausages, eggs, bagel, random pieces of fruit, lukewarm water) and ask about you for a change. How are you doing? How’s the girlfriend? Was she still in the mood when you got back from the convenience store?

In conclusion, I honestly have no idea what could have made those stains. While I was suffering through the last few songs on this record, I developed the hypothesis that it was aliens, who obviously would be interested in how hot or cold my apartment is, but I then discarded this idea after I went to refill my glass of water and was stunned by how much colder it felt on the lips.

reviewed by Richard Krueger

Neneh Cherry - Blank Project

Neneh Cherry
Blank Project
25 February 2014
Smalltown Supersound

3.5 stars out of 5

 

Blank Project is Swedish singer Neneh Cherry’s first new solo album in eighteen years. Produced by Kieran Hebden (aka Four Tet), the album’s minimal percussion and keyboard instrumentation (courtesy of RocketNumberNine) allows Cherry’s vocals to take up much of the space. Much of the album is vibrant and exciting in its experimentation, though the energy dissipates over the last three tracks and as a result the final eighteen minutes feel weak and unnecessary.

“Across the Water” is a quiet but tense track featuring only acoustic percussion and Cherry’s vocals. “Blank Project” is a frantic running of the gauntlet through more hand-hit things and droning keyboards. The album continues to build in intensity and become incrementally more electronic with “Naked,” a stark, ice-cold 3 AM stroll through the fog-filled streets of an industrial wasteland. “Weightless” seems aimed for the dance floor, although its arrangement and instrumentation is anything but typical for the discothèque. It’s a playful romp through several house music clichés, including—wait for it—“more cowbell!” Yes, I went there, but only because Cherry and Hebden went there first. “Cynical” is one part glitch, one part odd time signature tomfoolery, and one part trip-hoppy jazz. The duet with fellow Swedish chanteuse Robyn, “Out of the Black,” is, unfortunately, the weakest track on the record by a wide margin. The vocals by both singers seem laboured and lacking any sort of spark, and the music seems magically drained of all the interesting aspects the record had up to this point. Shoulda been a b-side, is what I’m sayin’.

The remaining two tracks on the record are almost as flat and dull as “Out of the Black,” which is a shame because Blank Project had seemed so fresh and interesting up to that point. Regardless, BP represents a great re-ignition of a solo career since her last record, which was released, believe it or not, before this autumn’s first-year university students were even born.

reviewed by Richard Krueger